A puzzle of sounds
Arno Steinacher is a young Austrian composer and musician that started his musical route at the age of 12 and has since veered into the world of electronic music; this release is under the working name Neubau. To first give you the idea behind this sort of music, here’s a quote from Arno’s website: “Music does not need listeners, it needs participants.”
Relying on both manipulation of recoded sounds (organic sounds) and the creating his own sounds (electronically), Neubau travels in a unique musical world where he serves the listener an amalgam of sounds (or noise made into sounds); whether those are voices, sounds recorded from nature, street or any other non-artificial setting, those are all incorporated into the grand scheme to make this otherworldly atmosphere, sounding as if detached from a human touch; but one must remember throughout the album that this is man-made. Along with the recorded sounds, come the effects and electronic tones that Neubau adds that seem to take whatever organic sound that is away from its roots and into a different dimension. A place where the sound takes on a new meaning, where one finds a new way of listening to them.
When listening to this type of music I am always amazed how to manage to make an intentional collage of sounds such as this, and morph it into something that is not only listenable but, to me at least can be one or more of the following: pleasant, perplexing, meditative, hypnotic, disturbing, annoying, captivating, appealing, transcendental.
That is the beauty and attraction of this music for me; its ability to pose a challenge to the brain: Can you perceive those sounds differently; are you able to follow the composer’s vision and either see through his musical eyes, or even create your own private imagery, when listening to his creation?
In this aspect, I think Arno’s music is successful. Moreover, in compositions such as track 4 “plast 2 - fragrance shed”, he manages to not only create a fascinating sound-scenario, but also to capture the essence of creating such a sound-journey with few minimal effects and “noises.”
In other tracks, such as the in opening track “isregn“ and the title track, he does a compelling job of combining both worlds of organic and artificial sounds, achieving a wonderful aural effect which is even melodic at a point or two (not a common trait at all in this style).
Perhaps not innovative or rebellious in his approach (some effects and styles are recognizable from other electro-acoustic recordings from older composers), but as a newcomer to the genre I am not in a place to judge. To me, he does an excellent job of creating his musical visions and making them sound both special and appealing to the listener/participant.
| Reviewer: Assaf Vestin Added: July 19th 2008 |
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