Bohren & Der Club of Gore
Black Earth

Bohren & Der Club Of Gore was formed in Germany in 1992. Starting from sparse and minimal sounds, aimed at a mild ambient composed of essential guitar/bass interplay (sounds that dominated their first two productions, which are rather understated), they soon evolved their sound in a very particular direction, which features the inclusion of typically Jazz elements (Christoph Clöser’s saxophone is certainly the most tangible sign of this contamination) on a refined base of keyboard climaxes, marked by a funeral pace rhythm section.

This is a peculiar experience, difficult to define, halfway between the aforementioned Jazz (which all band members carry from previous formations) and the atmospheric weavings typical of the most ethereal and whispering ambient music, dubbed by some critics (perhaps daringly, but surely descriptively and significantly) as Doom Jazz.

"Black Earth" (fourth studio album, dated 2002) presents itself as an extremely representative piece, the best of the group, playing on strong chiaroscuro analogies within the tracks and on an enveloping, addictive approach, capable of transporting the listener on a unique and wonderful journey, poetic as the breath of a city under the twilight's breeze. The division into songs becomes a pure formality, what "Black Earth" communicates is a continuous and caressing mood, a slow and measured pace, dark yet romantic, that shows its best side precisely in the darkness from which it takes its name. Turn off the lights, relax, maybe smoke a cigarette and let yourself be carried away by the alchemy of Skeletal Remains, by the teasing ode of "Destroying Angels" or by the silk of "The Art Of Coffins", no longer a record but a flow, a puff of smoke, a glass of whiskey.

It's useless to describe further, words are not the suitable means to approach Bohren & Der Club Of Gore: make it yours if you seek the boundary between music and emotion in the most delicate ways, if you are searching for a soundtrack to pair with the full moon, if you love the whisper and the rustle.