Crónica, the fine Portugese label, always seems to find artists which are new to me. Tilia is one Alexander Peterhaensel, a composer from Cologne, who had various works on labels as 12Rec/Rotesonne, Subway Records and Rattay, which all have escaped this listener. Originally ‘Vous Rêves/ Vous Ne Rêves Pas’ (meaning ‘you are dreaming/you are not dreaming’) was a multi-channel piece for the “Who_Loves2dance.company”. It’s mainly built around piano loops, but also involves bass and voices. All of these ingredients are mingled through the use of computer processing, so scratches, clicks and cuts are all part of the dish. Analogue meets digital here in a rather nice way. It would be easy to see the minimal piano loops in the tradition of Steve Reich, but it lacks the overtones. It’s rather more like Simeon Ten Holt meeting post-rock, especially when the bass drops in. The mumbled spoken word add an alien feel to it, and the electronics top things off nicely. Quite atmospheric music. On the same CD there is also the complete film that belongs to the music, and here I was quite surprised to see that it consists completely of abstract images, moving along the rhythms of the music. I expected something less abstract and more narrative I guess. So in all a nice surprise throughout this release.
FdW