Jakob Schauer – In Death I Am Caressing You (Album – Forwind)
Genre/Influences: Experimental, Electro-Acoustic, Industrial, Dark-Ambient.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Vienna (Austria) based Jakob Schauer is not exactly a familiar name although I can imagine some fans of Experimental- and Electro-Acoustic music must know this artist. He already released a few albums and this year released his first album on Forwind.
Content: The work features 7 tracks, which are quite diversified in influences, but in the end pretty close to Experimental- and Electro-Acoustic music. Each track seems to be driven by a different focus; now more into Dark-Ambient and then more like a collage of field recordings. Then you’ll notice heavy epic blasts and next a more Industrial composition driven by drones.
+ + + : The main strength of this artist’s new work is its diversity. It makes the Experimental basis of the album more accessible and I especially enjoy the good-old Industrial elements. “One Drop, One Everlange” is a perfect exposure to illustrate this sonic fusion. But I also like the Dark-Ambient approach of私and the phenomenal blasting arrangements resonating from the title track.
– – – : The improvised style of the work sometimes sounds disjointed, but I’m afraid that’s part of this artist’s approach.
Conclusion: An Experimental trip featuring dark atmospheres and overwhelming sound treatments.
Best songs: “私”, “One Drop, One Everlange”, In Death I Am Caressing You”.
Rate: 7.
Artist: https://jakobschauer.com / www.facebook.com/Jakob-Schauer-250632272191874
Label: www.forwind.net / www.facebook.com/forwindings
About Jakob Schauer
Jakob Schauer is a sound artist and producer based in Vienna, Austria. Discogs describes his solo work as experiments in drone and experimental music, built by mixing sound algorithms with pre-recorded material into layered tonal and atonal structures, and notes his installation work on the interplay of space and sound. He is a founding member of the Elektroakustisches Kammermusikensemble, which works with improvised electroacoustic music.
Discogs lists “Antlitz” in 2018 and the LP “Gaia’s Birth” on smallforms in 2019 before this release. “In Death I Am Caressing You” was issued on 30 September 2021 by the London label Forwind and holds seven tracks: “It’s my horse”, “Breathing”, “Klappe”, “In death I am caressing you”, “私”, “One drop, one everlange” and “Touched with Mona”. Schauer produced the album, Conor Curran mastered it and Hannes Jentsch handled the design.
The label describes the record as “a seven track twist of ghostly disruptions, glitched electronics and vaporous blasts of noise”, and states the sounds were generated from analog and synthetic sources to build “hyperrealistic acoustic atmospheres and sonic gestures”. Side-Line has not covered this artist before, so no earlier archive entry exists.
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