roman flügel: balmy evening

Beautifully drunken it hums, the piano in "Pianopiano", the last tune of How To Spread Lies, the first EP by Roman Flügel for the Hamburg based label dial from the year 2010. Or take "Strich", a peculiar electrical slow-motion grinder, out on his Mutter EP for Klang Electronic in 2006. For a long time, the renowned DJ and producer from Frankfurt is investigating in spheres beyond the dance, the groove, the ecstasy. Zones, where the molecules harmonize, the senses relieve, and the soul quietens. All of his previous few albums, All The Right Noises, Themes I-XIII (2018), Eating Darkness have moments of tension and relaxation in a deep harmonious connection. Now Balmy Evenings, a sundown record for sunups. Eleven notions in journey music, embracing the freedom of structure, blurring the musical pulse into harmonic meditation and mysteriously grooving zones, leaving all unnecessary accessories behind. A quality, that many of Roman Flügel's solo and project productions in his more than 30-year lasting career comprise. Still, most of them squint on the dancefloor, where jack is king not so Balmy Evenings, where real dancefloor bangers are omitted. There are moving tunes like the slow Kraftwerk-melody-leaning funkateer "Duftschulter", or the artificially jacking "Greenhouse", where nervous synth patterns ball along soft breaks and decreet kicks. likewise, "Super Sonne", an odd, seemingly improvised synth conversation might ask some souls out for a dance. But all others, like "Atmosphere", "Frei", "Dolphins", "Goth", or "Ambienteuse", rather seek for the tranquil in each one's spirit. Listeners must be ready for surprises. Ready for impulsive ideas, linked to a harmonious flow, always ready to grow in an analog vs. digital sound scope. An album full of silence, utterly loud, displaying a playful, adventurous artistic facet of a celebrated club music producer, to whom atoms dance in manifold ways.