There are benefits to owning your own label. Besides being able to sign friends and newcomers alike, while heading up Lucidlow, Nadja Lind and Helmut Ebritsch have also been able to exert creative control over their Klartraum project to their own exacting specifications. Their last studio album ‘Enneagram‘ was a conceptual piece that spanned four releases over the course of the year. Now their fourth album ‘Void Universes‘, themed around a similar release, comes to an end. The ‘Void Universes’ album is inspired by the teachings of Stephen Wolinsky, with each a quartet of releases themed to each one of the aforementioned universes.
With ‘Energy Void, ‘Space Void’ and ‘Time Void’ spread out over the course of 2017, we now complete the circle with ‘Mass Void‘. The album kicks off with ‘Grinsekatze‘, which is initially a dark track hearkening back to the glory turn of the millennium days of minimal. The bassline crawls around like a spider scampering across the floor with a little “life” vocal snippet adding in a bit of flavour. The big breakdown brings in a melody not even hinted at in your journey to date. This proves to be a catalyst, like a sunrise cracking across a pre-dawn sky.
Following this is ‘Mass Effect‘, a much more subtle track. The elements are muted, like they are being played in a forest that has seen heavy snow fall. This adds a sense of reverence to proceedings. The sparkling high end is offset against thoughtful breaks, taking you from introversion to momentum.
Finally, ‘Atlantis‘ matches up to the aquatic imagery of its namesake. The melodies are water dappled, moving like ripples caused by throwing a stone into water. It has all the grace of a babbling brook, easily the lightest moment on the release.
As a special tangent, Connaisseur Recordings, Bedrock and Poker Flat man Patrick Chardronnet is brought in to tackle ‘Grinsekatze‘, doing so in appropriately main room style by focussing on the melodic side of the original. It becomes a progressive and driving alternative take that will no doubt appeal to DJs who love to take tracks on long flowing blends in their mixes.
Coming out on 5th March 2018 on Beatport, check back on the already released ‘Energy Void‘. ‘Space Voice‘ and ‘Time Void‘ editions.