Hauschka - Snowflakes and Carwrecks EP

1. Ginsterweg
2. Eisblume
3. Wonder
4. Tanz
5. Kindelsberg
6. Hauberg
7. Tagtraum

Hauschka's third offering under the Fat Cat label comes in the form of new E.PSnowflakes and Car Wrecksand with it being nearly 40 minutes long what a generous offer it is, but as any ‘Sup reader knows, it’s all about the quality.

For those of you less familiar with the artist in question,Hauschka is a German-born pianist who specialises in composing and performing pieces on ‘prepared piano’, which involves adding materials to the inner workings of the instrument in order to alter its sound. Perhaps the most famous exponent of this technique is John Cage, who used to place screws, coins and rubber between piano strings, completely changing the timbre of the instrument. Inserting a metallic object between a string might produce a ringing more akin to a triangle, whereas using rubber produces a slapping noise. The crudest of explanations would be that a piano is transformed in to a makeshift one-man band, able to produce percussive sounds as well as harmonic ones.Hauschka clamps bits of felt or rubber between strings, wraps piano hammers in tin-foil and weaves guitar strings around the piano’s insides. Granted, it may look as if someone with a bag of hardware shopping has just fallen in to a piano, but I can assure you it’s a little more considered than that.

Snowflakes and Car Wrecks is a collection of leftovers from the sessions of its predecessorFerndorf, which was released in September and therefore Snowflakes… in many respects isn’t a giant leap forward sonically speaking, however there is more than enough to be of interest within this playfully exploratory E.P.

The album’s opener; Ginsterweg is a wonderfully atmospheric piece of Steve Reich minimalism, rocking gently between two chords with irregular swells of intensity. This track, like many on the album, sounds as if all the differing layers, melodies and themes are independently minded, all slightly out of time with one another, while still possessing a sense of synergy between them. If you’ll permit me a more flavourful description; it sounds like you’ve just stumbled in to the most gloriously synchronised clock maker’s factory.

Wonder exemplifies Hauschka's love of electronica, complete with shuffling dance-like rhythm, and a piano part that wouldn’t be out of place on DJ Shadow’s Entroducing album. Add in what sounds like a small Indonesian Gamelan orchestra working away and you’ve got one of the highlights of the E.P. In fact Snowflakes and Car Wrecks truly hits its stride about half way through. Track four - Tanz is a wonderfully industrious number, with cellos and piano dialoguing wonderfully with one another. This is Hauschka at his most playful, with delightful little rattles and slaps coming from the piano and an ending with (whisper it) pop chord changes.

What Hauschka does well is introduce you to a sound that is foreign yet vaguely familiar, leaving you with an other-worldly experience. At times it’s difficult to decipher chaos from form, but that’s what makes Snowflakes and Car Wrecks so exciting - one second you’re listening to sparse meandering cello melodies, the next you’re in the Far East with accompanying electro beats. If all this sounds like its verging on the mentally unstable, don’t worry, it fits together perfectly. The real achievement here is that Hauschka has managed to draw upon so many influences and make them sit together as a whole. Snowflakes and Car Wrecks is the exploration of a uniquely inquisitive mind, providing many playful twists and turns along the way, enveloping you in a whole new world which has everything from electronica to silver-foil piano hammers..http://www.supmag.com/