(2021) Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk – Eight Fragments of an Illusion


Review:
Eight Fragments of an Illusion is Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk‘s third collaborative album, and was recorded over the last three years at Schnauss’s well-equipped studio in London. In the time since the duo’s last record (2017’s Passage), Schnauss has spent a significant amount of time working as a member of Tangerine Dream, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this has impacted the direction of the music. Where its predecessor had an almost soft-rock maximalist approach, Eight Fragments of an Illusion is more markedly minimal, eschewing percussion almost entirely in favor of slow-building tracks that accent the interplay between Schnauss’s synth and Munk’s guitar. Opener ‘Asteroid 2467’ is hypnotic and melancholy, softly shuttling from reverberating Cocteau Twins-esque guitar into ’80s Tangerine Dream-esque OST-synth bliss. ‘Return to Burlington’ features a brittle drum machine that reminds of Schnauss’s hallowed debut “Far Away Trains Passing By” and chiming mallet sounds that create a wall of harmonic haze. The album’s extended centerpiece is ‘Perpetual Motion’, and hinges around a muted dub techno rhythm, tangling Munk’s guitar into looping synth echoes and shuffling beats. It’s an unexpected diversion for the duo that shows their ability to evolve as they develop their sound. if you’ve ever wondered what Slowdive and Seefeel might sound like reworking the soundtrack to “Risky Business”, this might help point you in the right direction.





Track Listing:
1.Asteroid 2467 08:52
2.Return To Burlington 06:04
3.Solitary Falling 04:29
4.Perpetual Motion 10:50
5.Narkomfin 05:29
6.Faint Lights In The Distance 06:57
7.Along Deserted Streets 06:05
8.Polychrome 08:49


Media Report:
Genre: ambient, electronic
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits