Here we have the latest release from German Krautrock electronic keyboard band Reichenhall who feature Bernhard Wöstheinrich (sequencer, keyboards & synthesizer ), Lukas Radiomodul (loop machine, editing & production), Mathieu Sylvestre (looper and electronics, real-time sound transformations) and Volker Lankow (soundscapes & loops) along with guest Uschi Hugo (who provides voice on one track). Here we have a band who on this release have been heavily influenced by Tangerine Dream and early Kraftwerk, as they provide us with a concept album about traffic in many different forms of motion, including being stuck and no moving at all. In the middle of the album is the title cut, which is about a mythical creature that has lingered for aeons in the fog of the traffic jam between Kamen and Bergkamen and includes spoken word, radio noises etc.
In many ways this divides the album into two halves, something which is accentuated by the opening and closing tracks being the two longest on the album, and I must confess to finding it incredibly distracting and enjoying the tracks prior to that much more than the tracks afterwards, but I am sure that is solely because the world I had become immersed inside had changed, and I was not ready for that to take place. There is something hypnotic, embracing and beguiling about the first three numbers, yet these feelings are somewhat diluted and impacted after “Motormorla” which is not a poor track in itself, just that it felt out of context against the rest of the album. That this is an interesting release to anyone who is interested in Krautrock is never in doubt, but I can’t help feeling it would have been a more complete offering if the title track had not been included in this set as it may have well fitted better on another. 6/10
By Kev Rowland
