Cluster – Sowiesoso
For a cruel afternoon in January there is little else that massages the mind in the way that Cluster’s Sowiesoso album does. It’s all skeletal trees, flickery lanterns, frosty marshes and perhaps a pagan animal hat peering from a nearby holly tree.
Sowiesoso has escaped me for years and finally I laid claim to copy the other day on Bleep. It was first recorded in 1976 by a couple of German (aren’t they always?) synth-tamers against a limping cold-war backdrop – perhaps the reason the sound is so contrastingly peaceful. Although there has been subtle changes to the splendid cover art, the rest of the album remains as sublime as it always was.
Sowiesoso is a slow-burning album, but it’s dappled with little sparkles of melodic bliss and synth’s that curdle and percolate into the air like black smoke from a blown fuse. There’s some moments of brilliance here: The downright drunken wobbliness of In Ewigkeit feels like falling into a contented beery sleep on a sofa and the wintry pastoral signature tune, Sowiesoso could easily be a soundtrack to a lazy bike ride.
They’ve got a myspace, which you should nip across to sometime. I’d love to see these guys live.
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They were a big influence on Brian Eno – something of them can be heard on Bowie’s Berlin trilogy as Eno went straight from living in their barn for a few months to producing Low, Heroes and Lodger. The Cluster & Eno album is well worth hearing as is their other great album – Zuckerzeit, a favourite of Julian Cope’s. Also, do you know their work with Neu’s Michael Rother? Their two albums, Musik Von Harmonia and Deluxe are gorgeous works, though the posthumously released Tracks and Traces is less essential. I’ve seen Harmonia and Cluster live (the latter supporting Tortoise at the RFH late last year) and I’m sorry to disappoint, but Cluster were pretty awful – unengaging electronic free improv a million miles from Sowieso’s melodic glory. Lovely musical descriptions by the way.