Post Description

Recorded:  2001/2002 at Moldau Studio, Hambühren. Final mixes in June/July 2002
First Release: September 2002, on Rainhorse Records
Performed by: Klaus Schulze (electronics, keyboards, guitar)
Wolfgang Tiepold (cello)
Thomas Kagermann (arabian flute, violin, vocals)
Julia Messenger (vocals)
Audrey Motaung (vocals)
Tobias Becker (oboe, english horn)
Mickes (guitar)

Disc 5: Cocooning

This disc features 79 minutes. Eight tracks here: a diverse mixture of 20+ minutes, 10 minutes, and 2 minutes and less. As expected, the tunes run together to create an extended listening experience.

Calming overtones are the keynote for the music on this disc. Schulze's amiable electronics are accompanied this time by acoustic guitar, gentle E-perc, and English horn. This tuneage is quite soothing compared to the rest of the CDs in this set, almost minimal. But "minimal" in Schulze's hands is an entirely different thing from most "minimal" recordings. Lurking beneath the easy-going melodies, a vibrant sensibility can be detected, and although it does not break free from restraint, this reserve energy saturates the audience's mind in a subtle manner. The acoustic guitar explores quasi-romantic sentiments, imbuing the music with a leisurely mood. This comfortable state is further delineated once the English horn appears, with expressive strains that lift the listener to a floating vantage. Awesomely sedate, the music is never tedious or overly tenuous. Its soul shines through, evoking a calm that resists any external disruption.

The ambience becomes more lively with the third track ("I Just Have to Sing My Hymns") with the introduction of softly treated vocals. The electronics surge, but gently. The percussives escalate their fine rhythms while remaining unhurried and complacent. There are points where the vocals possess a strange quality, as if fused with orchestral strings. So expertly crafted is this fusion that it is difficult to tell where the voice leaves off and the strings begin.

Subsequent tracks are brief and consist mostly of guitar and oboe acting as the frontmen for Schulze's luxurious electronics and the staid percussion. Only toward the end does the guitar rise to declare its own commanding presence, but even this passion does not violate the overall placid nature of the music.

CD 5 "Cocooning"
1. Easy Listening (26.11)
2. And She is Kind and Gentle (12.01)
3. I Just Have to Sing My Hymns (20.03)
4. It still is now (2.17)
5. Blowin' thru the high grass (6.20)
6. Many dreams have faded in (1.29)
7. Many fears have vanished (9.36)
8. As the Years Went by (2.07)