Ulrich Schnauss
A Strangely Isolated Place

THE REVIEW

...Dreamy...

Ulrich Schnauss, a German born in 1977, produced this album as ethereal as it is varied in 2003 which, (following this absurd mania of meticulously cataloguing music into mini subgenres of c...), can be considered a cross between indietronica and dream pop.

Immediately abandon any preconceived notion such as: "...the usual ambient-melancholic musical background from a film...". Ok, this is a dreamy and slow album, but far from monotonous and boring to listen to.

Let's get into the details: the album opens with "Gone Forever", a cold and intense ride through the ice lasting more than 8 minutes, mixing Sigur Ròs-like celestial choirs with a light trip hop beat, ultimately unveiling subtle synth lines; "On My Own" is a much more electronic piece, the beginning seems to consist of keyboards played in reverse, developing into pseudo-guitaristic distortions supported by a driving beat; a much more human and "warm" drum characterizes "A Letter From Home", an effluence of synthesizers now dark now sharp with nostalgic female choirs inlaid.

Expanded and darkly intense is the fourth track, "Monday - Paracetamol", which after the fourth minute is pure hallucination. "Clear Day" is a crystalline piece disturbed by a decidedly trip hop beat that serves as a backdrop to solemn and angelic female voices, while "Blumenthal" is a brilliant blend of acoustic guitar, celestial synths, and music box. An alien beat introduces the seventh track "In All The Wrong Place", which after a very delicate introduction unleashes a cascade of distorted effects for synthesizer and drum machine.

And finally the title track "A Strangely Isolated Place", where a mechanical siren-like voice leads us into the icy depths of Schnauss's mind, and a melancholic melody leads us to drown in hypnosis in our consciousness flows...

...I struggled a lot to not give this album the 5 stars that I jealously reserve for masterpieces... "A Strangely Isolated Place" is not far from it...