Heinrich Mueller is the non de plume of ex-Drexcyian Gerald Donald, and in conjunction with ice-cold Germanic vocalist Brigitte Enzler, Spanish producer Penelope Martin and New York’s Susanna Correia, the quartet explore the cryptic dimensions between pseudo-science and paranormal phenomena on Paranormale Aktivitat. Donald’s aliases stretch throughout the nineties and noughties‚ from the electroclash zeitgeist-riding Arpanet and Dopplereffekt projects, to the difficult-to-categorise Japanese Telecom and the Cinematic Electro of Zerkalo for the Clone label. Paranormale Aktivitat is a single-minded and resolutely minimal concept album where a glowering presence hovers just out of sight. Or alternatively, and I can’t make up my mind on this, Zwischenwelt’s debut album is tongue-in-check statement on the hauntological sounds emanating from many a ghostly studio or laptop. The production is so minimal and monomaniacal that it feels more like a solo album than a group effort, barring the deadpan vocals.
The general trajectory for tracks on Paranormale Aktivitat is that of a vignette rather than a grand opus, or overarching statement. Like a chance meeting on a dissecting table between Kraftwerk, Arthur Baker, and Black Light District / Elph era Coil, the electro foundations, spooky synths and miasmatic arpeggios imbue Paranormale Aktivitat with an Evil Dead, or Nosferatu-style atmosphere. You’d be forgiven for thinking that the burrowing percussion and high / low end synths of “Diapsiquia” is a long-lost outtake from Coil’s Love’s Secret Domain, or Peter Christopherson’s solo, instrumental output. Materialization pares things back further, until all that remains are disquieting electronic flourishes and torpid, half-remembered dubstep tropes. The technoid-electro rhythm of Premonition is overlaid with various female vocal treatments of the title word, which comes across as somewhat hackneyed and obvious. Fortunately, the same mixture is handled admirably earlier on in the album, as Clairvoyant woody beats, cut-glass synths and impassive vocals get the mix just right, although this track pulls up rather abruptly, rather than hypnotizing the listener for a further five minutes or so.
Clairvoyant got the mix so spot-on in fact, that I spent the remainder of the album hoping that another Clairvoyant style snippet of synaesthetic bliss may appear out of the gloom. Unfortunately I was left disappointed and vaguely perturbed. And, whilst I’m grumbling, the promo copy from Rephlex contained the worlds most annoying Germanic computer voice interrupting each track in order to discourage Internet distribution. The Criminal Minds release also featured this identifying stamp, which lent a dislocated interruption to the listening experience. Hopefully Richard D. James and company can afford a digital watermark, like many contemporary labels, for future promotional material. ZwischenweltParanormale Aktivitat delves into the hauntological party-tricks box, but only comes up with some well-worn presets and the odd dispassionate vocal to entertain the kids with.
Oliver Laing
