tarwater: adrift

"The Berlin-based electronic duo Tarwater (Ronald Lippok and Bernd Jestram) formed in 1995. They have produced 11 regular studio albums and various collaborations (e.g. with Piano Magic, Tuxedomoon, B. Fleischmann), as well as numerous film and theater scores. Lippok also plays in the band To Rococo Rot. File under: indietronics, neo-Krautrock. Their new album Adrift is an album of voices and rhythms, with an atmosphere that may at first seem reduced, yet further listening reveals a wealth of detail. Adrift was created in 2013/2014 and completed after Ronald Lippok and Bernd Jestram worked together with Maurus Ronner on the soundtrack for the documentary 24h Jerusalem. Tarwater encourage the state of being Adrift. The cover of the album shows the empty field of the former Berlin airport at Tempelhof, photographed by Robert Lippok. Adrift is a dream diary; its characters act not as in fantasy, but reality. Tarwater agree when the album is described as 'somnambulist.' Adrift contains 13 songs, four of which are instrumentals. The opening track, 'The Tape,' is an introduction to the sonic landscape of the album. Drum 'n' bass in slow motion: a recurring hissing sound meets an acoustic bass and associative percussion. The drum kit in the traditional rock format is conspicuous in its absence. Tarwater, who particularly in the British music press are happily and quite fittingly placed in the tradition of the Krautrock of the '70s, tap into a different close relative on Adrift. Robert Wyatt, with his jazz filtered through progressive rock, comes to mind. Adrift is one of the few Tarwater albums not to feature a cover version. Instead there are four assimilations of texts by befriended and esteemed poets: 'Homology, Myself' is by the Viennese-Berliner poetess Ann Cotten, quoted from 'Dichten = N. 10. 16 New (To American Readers) Poets.' She speaks of the impossible task of being a robot. The rhythmic backdrop, in which Tarwater install Cotten's lecture is anything but mechanical. The lyrics to 'They Told Me in the Alley' also come from Ann Cotten and Kerstin Cmelka. The title suggests something rather pastoral, yet we hear as Ronald Lippok's voice travels through different room ambiences. 'Log of the Sloop' and 'The Evening Pilgrims' are taken from the collection The Man Who Had Forgotten the Name of Trees by Milner Place. Adrift finishes on an ethereal note: 'Rice and Fish' features a cameo by Sabrina Milena alias Milenasong. Milena provides the shimmering background to Ronald Lippok's laconic vocals, alongside psychedelic guitar sounds, electronic loops and a bossa nova rhythm. Minimalism sounds different." --Marek Flohner