Review

Arovane

Ve Palor

n5MD • 2013

Who would have ever imagined that we would hear anything more from one of the few great German IDM artists out there these days! Despite the fact that Uwe Zahn with his Arovane project belongs to the second generation of this musical identity, which came a good five to six years after the actual peak of IDM, he consistently found a fresh, independent and profoundly deep approach to this musical genre between 1998 and 2004. He was above all able to fall back on all the advantages of digital music creation, all the plug-in programming for advanced breakdowns, which the old masters like Autechre and Aphex Twin still had to work out by hand and in analogue form in the mid-90s. This resulted in extremely clear sound structures that allowed for more effects, more breaks and microscopic shifts in the beat clicks and melody cuts. Uwe Zahn is certainly also the godfather of Funkstörung. But with his third and last album »Lilies« (City Centre Offices) in 2004, the Berliner-by-choice had already said goodbye to this effects-oriented world and adopted a more conceptual and almost poppy approach. After that it went quiet. It is all the more surprising therefore that with »Ve Palor« Zahn now presents an album that is almost completely in the tradition of his 2000 debut album »Atol Scrap« (DIN). Delicate, elegiac synthesiser layers cover the backgrounds against which the rhythm patterns of the click & cuts generation cavort. Pure nostalgia aside, this is simply the softest wool since childhood – the warm coat for a long, cold winter that will definitely arrive. And since »Atol Scrap« was never released on record, »Ve Palor« becomes a beautiful peace offering at the same time. The album is released on red vinyl.

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