Hands In The Dark / France / 2022
The prolific German musician Christian Schoppik is dropping his second solo record of 2022 under the moniker Läuten der Seele, following up his critically acclaimed self-titled debut album released at the start of the year.
Once again, 'Die Mariengrotte als Trinkwasseraufbereitungsanlage' (The Mother Mary Grotto as a Drinking Water Treatment Plant) is a work based on a mix of sample collages and recorded instruments that are often used sparsely but as load-bearing elements. However, this time, Schoppik came up with two long tracks where the narrative evolves in multiple and intricate movements to tell mysterious stories that have to be imagined by the listeners as the music unfolds. If the title of the tracks 'Opferkerzen weihen das Betonbecken' (Votive Candles consecrate the Concrete Pool) and 'Der Heilige Geist aus der Leitung' (The Holy Ghost from the Water Tap) give a starting point to these stories, the ethereal, mystic and dreamy sounding minimal atmospheres presented in this recordings let each one of us contemplate our own soothing experience against the continuous chaos surrounding us.