Copyright © 1992 Strange Ways
1. ...Can manage...
2. Following you
3. Annie
4. Leading men
5. It´s not too late
6. The sparrows and the nightingales
7. Angry today
8. Kissing the wall
9. This time
10. Anybody´s window
11. Listen!
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Basic pop beats from softened synth percussions build ground for melodic
enrichment in voice and simplistic harmonic presence. The flat rhythm, like
the electronic leading melody rearing between few numeric poles on the tone
scale, remains mostly unchanging and thus forms consensus with a potential
increase in exponential expressionism.
As with mountains reaching the top level of clouds in the sky, the beauty of
this music stems from the transcendent elements, both in musical and logical
presentation. The soft voice of Peter Heppner moves through a melodic tunnel
along with the accompanying thematic musical vision, creating a dark but
gentle atmosphere in the vein of neogothic sensations derived from emotional
variation.
Surprises are not so much original as dynamic: the content is admirably
self-explorative. These musicians are not afraid of exposing unpleasant
feelings or experimenting with the possibilities of transcending populist
synth music in general: the baroque piano melodies, the occasional classical
influences, the traces of German folk music, and the outbreak from
conventional gothic music as seen with the will to leave self-pity behind
and instead act according to ideals - but perhaps most importantly, the
actual emotional mood and artistic spirit is sharp, clear and overwhelmingly
timeless considering the modern musical frame.
As careful poetry in the tradition of heroism, together with the kind of
emotional logic present in individuals of a romanticist nature, the music
achieves a status in neoclassical tradition. Well deliberated life stories
and world reflections exchange ideas with the listener, communicating both
the sorrows of living life as a passive and emotionally broken member of an
already decaying society, as well as the light and joy of taking an
imperfect state into growing success. This music is ancient spirit captured
in beautiful but lonely states of self-reflection and solemn contemplation.
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