Former Tasmanians and school friends Stewart Lawler (Boxcar, Severed Heads) and Jonathan Elliott (Prayers in Ashes, Batrachian) formed Kl(aüs) in 2013. With many years experience playing in critically acclaimed and influential Australian electronic bands using sequencers and laptops, and even more long evenings in the pub arguing the nuances of Tangerine Dream’s 1979-1985 period, the pair realised that the Berlin School genre is a perfect vehicle for a style of improvisation and sonic exploration that is focussed around playing instruments rather than performing from laptops.
Says Lawler, “We think the recent trend for ‘authenticity’ in electronic music by exclusively using vintage equipment is a bit misplaced, to be honest. What really matters is how you play the instrument; be it physical or software, it’s how you interact with the sounds as you play that counts. By recording live improvisations direct to multi-track audio we’ve displaced the sequencer from its central role, allowing a more organic development of musical ideas to take place”.
The result is a magnificent soundscape of an album that takes the listener on a journey from beginning to end and while referencing an earlier era’s style and methodology doesn’t shy away from using modern production technology to achieve its own unique sound. It may also be the first Berlin School album to feature the sounds of an Australian spotted gum forest.
The album was mastered in Sydney by industry veteran Rick O’Neil