IRRLICHT

Irrlicht is Klaus Schulze's debut solo album; prior to this he was a member of Tangerine Dream for one album, their debut Electronic Meditation, then Ash Ra Tempel, also for one album, their self-titled debut. Prior to 1972, it appears that his primary role as a member of these and other bands had been that of the drummer, although he was also credited with "electronics" on Ash Ra Tempel.

Here, in his first of two pre-synthesizer albums, Schulze is uses studio electronics to heavily process an organ, a string ensemble, and other instruments. Much of the music, which is presented as two long pieces (over twenty minutes each) bookending a five-minute work, can be described as drones. The first longe piece, "1. Satz: Ebene," contains the most content identifiable as musical instrumentation, but it too is closer to sonic art than to any standard genre of music. "2. Satz: Gewitter (Energy Rise - Energy Collaps)" begins with organ chords upon which Schulze plays sounds so filtered I'm unsure of their sources; but soon the atmospheric organ is all that remains.

Of the three tracks, "3. Satz: Exil Sils Maria" is the most interesting, although superficially, it seems to be almost featureless. I listened to it for years without realizing that the entire 21-minute track is actually played backwards. Of course, upon closer inspection, it's not featureless at all.

Although there are a few passages, especially on "Gewitter," that seem to be experimentation for its own sake, Irrlicht is nonetheless a very good album and a very impressive debut.