AFTERGLOW

I found myself smiling when I read the email from Alexander Paul Dowerk (touch guitars S8) which said, "Shortly after our last album 'EXTINCTION LEVEL' we are releasing a brand-new EP 'AFTERGLOW' to extinguish the last flame of hope left." Needless to say, I had to grab the EP, since when I have again been marvelling at the sounds created by Alexander alongside Markus Reuter (touch guitars AU8 & S8, soundscapes), Bernhard Wöstheinrich (keyboards & electronics) and Asaf Sirkis (drums & percussion). Here you have four musicians who consistently refuse to acknowledge that music should be constrained in any way whatsoever and instead move together in a manner which is compelling, dangerous, fragile and jagged in a way which most "music lovers" would find far too uncomfortable to listen to.

This is music at the edge of what can be defined as such ? it has yet to jump into the chasm and the darkness where one can find the likes of Gridfailure but instead holds out that slight hope for the listener that soon they may find themselves in a time signature or key they recognise. Or not. I have been following Reuter and Sirkis for quite some time, the former particularly for his work in Stick Men, while Sirkis has been around the avant garde scene for years and can now be found in Soft Machine, while Wöstheinrich worked with Reuter in Centrozoon (who I reviewed years back) with Dowerk being an avid student who continually learns from the others while also pursuing his own path. The result is an EP which may only be 31 minutes in length but during that period we are transported into a different time and place altogether where auto tune and created pop pap does not exist and instead we are fed upon a diet of challenging yet rewarding art and long may it continue.