The cover of Phantom Horse’s album Primal Forms is printed with shades of color that blend seamlessly into one another. This pattern continues in the music of the duo formed by Ulf Schütte and Niklas Dommaschk. The tracks are compositions made up of numerous layers, stacked in such a way that everything converges into a coherent, multi-layered soundscape. Each track feels like watching a painting come into being.
»Primal Forms«, the second track on the album of the same name, begins with a single layer of sound, over which a spark-like, high-pitched noise emerges. Gradually, more layers are added. Like many tracks on this record, it starts without a melody; only after some time does one settle over the technical percussion sounds.
This album delivers complex music in which you constantly discover something new. Varied tempos create richly textured sonic landscapes. The sound itself feels spacey rather than monotonous, absolutely not repetitive. Because of their diversity, the long tracks feel shorter than they actually are.The German electronic duo Phantom Horse delivers tracks that oscillate between ambient, industrial, and experimental electronic music while nevertheless remaining coherent within themselves. On their debut album Different Forces (2015), Phantom Horse sounded lighter, more conventional, and less dark. Eleven years later, they skillfully command a powerful sonic palette that boldly combines synths with spacey tones, static noise, and percussion.
