Waveshape Zyklus

The fourth album from the duo Michael Neiths and Volker Jüngerich whose previous Waveshape albums have appealed to fans of Tangerine Dream style sequenced music. For me, Waveshape’s music has teetered on the brink of greatness for a long time yet somehow it hasn’t quite managed to produce that definitive track which completely blows the listener away. Judging by their approach to the music they certainly have it in them. Perhaps on this album then? "An acoustic interpretation of an endless replacement process from the appearance of new and the decay of old worlds" is the concept, and to this end the opening ‘Impuls’ is a 30 second recording of a distant pulsar. ‘Aura’ kicks off musical proceedings with a repetitive sequence which for 3 minutes acts as the introduction to the following piece ‘Amplituden’ which combines a strong sequential rhythm with a well constructed melody. ‘Interval’ is a short scene setter for an impressive sequence which straddles the tracks ‘Zwischenraum’ and ‘Zenith’. The trio of tracks which follow stick to this intro/sequence/develop sequence formula and again they do not disappoint. The penultimate track ‘Magma’ combines a sparse sequence with an ambient beat. The melody is just as rudimentary leaving various effects to add variety to what would have otherwise been a fairly repetitive 8 minutes. The closing track ‘Puls’ compresses themes and sequences from the whole album into a superb 3 minutes. This is yet another quality album from Waveshape, however it still leaves me feeling that they have yet to show their true potential. Their laid back sequencing style certainly satisfies, but perhaps they rest on their laurels a little too much and need to inject more variation. I found the album very predictable, and yet the music has a quality which is hard to resist. (GG)

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