BB 089CD BB 089CD

Stunden is the unique and unprecedented new record of instrumental music by electronic pioneer Hans-Joachim Roedelius (Cluster, Harmonia) and Stefan Schneider (To Rococo Rot, Kreidler , Mapstation). In twelve miniatures, with titles such as "Liebe", "Das Eine" and "Country," Stunden unfolds images that come across with a poetic, glorifying tranquility. Despite the use of synthesizers and amplifiers, these songs are closer to the texts of Adalbert Stifter than to the machine music of Kraftwerk. By all accounts, Roedelius' work with the likes Dieter Moebius and Michael Rother (in Cluster and Harmonia) as well as Brian Eno (on 1977's Cluster & Eno and 1978's After The Heat) are considered blueprints for today's electronica. He began releasing solo albums in 1978 and on his second album, 1979's Jardin au Fou, was already exploring the interplay between piano and electronics, a synthesis which is also the core of Stunden. Roedelius and Schneider first decided to work together at a Cluster concert in Berlin in 2007 and the idea for the album came after their first joint appearance in the Berger Kirche, a 17th Century church in Düsseldorf. The music was intended to match the location of the concert: Sounds for a vestry, to which Roedelius spoke his own texts. Stunden was created in the early months of 2010. While the initial reference for the collaboration was their concert experience, the concept gradually opened up and the lyrics fell away, until there was only one proviso: The music should be quiet -- otherwise anything goes. Stunden is a bold and inspired record, with a focus on Roedelius' piano playing while Schneider lays synthesizer sounds around it. Other pieces feature guitar, zither, digital and analog synths. Together, the pieces create an impression of pleasant vagueness. This is music for the room which opens upwards.