Apparat ‎– The Devil’s Walk

Apparat continues his melodic take on IDM with THE DEVIL'S WALK, which is, by turns, operatic and melancholic. The chorus that launches "Sweet Unrest" soon dwindles to a single, sad voice (Ring's own) for "Song Of Los," which maintains a strong thrum underneath. "Black Water," on the other hand, has a slow throb giving shape to the rest of the synth layers. Anja Plaschg takes vocals duties on "Goodbye," which sounds as if it's been distilled directly from heartache. Much of the album gives way to neo-indie-post-rock as well, but Apparat also has a few orchestral flights of fancy: the swelling strings on "The Soft Voices Die" or the plucked frenzy that starts off "Ash/Black Veil" before the rhythm comes in to pound away the sorrow. Meanwhile, the instrumental "A Bang In The Void" leans upon the marimba and vibraphone to impart resonance. And even though I miss Raz Ohara and some of the dirty funk that appeared on his previous album, WALLS, this album forges its own diabolic path.

That´s the album I´ve waited for this year. Pictures all around...the perfect soundtrack for late summer, early autumn and a white winterlandscape. I always loved the Moderat-releases and now you can hear the essence of his part in this project on one album. It's astonishing that he always finds the sensible point to me in his melancholic tunes. A great album, maybe one of the best in 2011. "Losing our voices. Losing our voices. For the day" (Song Of Los)....nothing more to say :-)