cass.: magical magical

In 2014, Pieter from Ghent-based tape label Dauw recommended Osnabrück artist Cass. to Home Normal for the release of Magical Magical. Born in 1991, Niklas Rehme-Schlüter (aka Cass.) began self-releasing music in 2010. To date his work has been released on small tape and vinyl editions, with his new release for Home Normal the first CD pressing of his work. Featuring collaborators Altars Altars, Miriam Jolene, Emily Cross (Cross Record), Emil Hewitt, and Moritz Leppers, Magical Magical is a playful album of electronic music, brimming over with melodies, ideas, and youthful tenderness. A near filmic equivalent would perhaps be the work of Hayao Miyazaki with his focus on the hidden depths of spirit through the innocence of childhood. It marks quite the turn from his previous meditative works, such as Loops & Farewell Sketches (2013), and shows just how talented this artist is. For a more specific note, the concept of ??? (Kamikakushi, translates literally to "hidden by spirits" or "spirited away") really comes into play. Again, this idea comes from the genius of Miyazaki, but the idea basically stems from the concept of a liminal journey through a realm of gods and spirits, specifically the unknown journey taken by children as they are taken by gods, often re-appearing after this physical disconnect at a temple or shrine days later. This pre-modern Japanese concept is often more modernly represented as the path from childhood through to adulthood, but the pre-modern focus of innocence, the unknown, and ethereal antiquity somehow encompasses the aptly titled Magical Magical with its focus on such ideas as light, dreams, love, and, finally, death (as finite or infinite as that may well be).