Taghelle Nacht

Description

Across an extensive suite of enchanting miniatures, Matthias Kremsreiter and
Christian Schoppik present the hypnagogic vision of Taghelle Nacht. Recording under
their respective Roudi Vagou and Läuten der Seele aliases, Kremsreiter and Schoppik
combine their distinct but equally accomplished instrumental practices into a new
collaboration that weaves swooning samples amongst instrumental passages. They
lead us through 16 vignettes that revel in the cognitive dissonance and seductive
magic of moonlight at midnight.
Both artists have past form within the folds of contemporary experimental electronic
music in Germany. Kremsreiter’s work as alibikonkret has manifested on DIY tape
releases created with a methodical, technically-minded approach. Debuting his Roudi
Vagou pseudonym on Taghelle Nacht, he pivots to a more playful, instinctively felt
method that allows the compositions to flow with a natural cadence. Schoppik has
been a key figure in the celebrated dark-ambient-folk scene, not least as part of the
group Brannten Schnüre. His work as Läuten der Seele includes the acclaimed ‘water
trilogy’ of LPs between 2022 and 2024, with a greater emphasis on instrumental,
atmospheric production, and a last, stunning collaborative album with Nový Svět’s
Jota Solo.
On Taghelle Nacht the precise ingredients of each piece soften at the edges as tape
loops and swathes of reverb seal the joints between spellbinding melodic refrains.
Opening track and lead single ‘Gleisende Lichter’ sets the tone with ghostly murmurs,
spine-tingling string refrains and splashes of cymbal that cut through the gloom with
stark clarity. A lilting romanticism stirs at the heart of the orchestral samples that
populate the likes of “Grenzüberschreitung” — old-world beauty sometimes buried
in dust, elsewhere rendered with startling clarity. ‘So Süß’ lets buzzing, sustained
drones and dissonant sweeps of extended technique glide in and out of each other.
Granular processing subtly breaks apart the mellow swell on ‘Komischer Anruf’, and
forlorn sax calls out into heavy-hearted space on ‘Glaskopf Mit Watte’. At every turn
a new scene is painted, distinct from the last and yet all bound up in the pervasive,
pale blue light cast over the sleeping landscape Kremsreiter and Schoppik have
sculpted.
Snatches of song drift by like dreamlike fragments, and achingly tender flourishes
fleetingly appear and retreat — ideas and expressions momentarily caught in the
light before retreating into the shadows once more. This is the evocative world of
Taghelle Nacht — an unsettling depiction of the surreal blend of memories and
imagination that merge into each other once the sun goes down.