I’ll explain a little about the genesis of this review, before I launch into a blow-by-blow dissection of the forthcoming album for Hanno Leichtmann’s Static project. Cyclic keeps me awash (just managing to keep my head above water) with new releases, and generally a release gets a period of gestation whereupon I’ll have a preliminary listen or two, then return my attention to whatever it is that I am currently reviewing. Freedom of Noise appeared on first approach to be a well-executed collection of indie-electronic vignettes that was relatively unremarkable. This probably says more about the general standard of production found amongst musicians mining a seam of sound that finds inspiration from Modern Classical, My Bloody Valentine and the City Centre Offices label (the previous home of Static). As the time approached that I needed to get my critical thinking cap on with specific reference to Static, my listening schedule upped the ante and slowly, the true colours of Freedom of Noise were revealed to me. I had forgotten that Static was a Hanno Leichtmann project, and when it dawned on me that I was listening to the same producer that delivered the cross cultural juxtapositions of The African Twintower Suite on Dekorder, it all started to make sense.
Herr Leichtmann, being a bit of a musical magpie (aren’t we all!), is well acquainted with numerous improvising musicians working mostly in a “jazz” idiom (and I use that term very loosely). On Freedom of Noise, Static has shaped the base materials provided by a long list of musicians including Aussie ex-pat Harpist Clare Cooper, Kassian Troyer on prepared guitar and the trumpet of Axel Dorner. The resultant studio alchemy achieves moments akin to the intelligent electronic pop of Tarwater, a smattering of the Scape label’s roster and Groupshow band-mate Jan Jelinek’s later works. The micro details of “Sad Rocket” provide hours of headphonic pleasure, trumpet trills, subtle Rhodes, processed handclaps and octave-jumping pulses of an unknown origin. “Stubby Fingers” has a mournful poignancy to the looped improvisers trapped and sliced, kind of like the more pastoral moments of Boards of Canada meeting a woozy Appalachian-flecked jazz, inducing my stubby fingers to tap along. The title track introduces Leichtman’s cool Teutonic-inflected English, for a gloriously androgynous IDM pop stomper. Also a highlight is the flute of Sabine Vogel, which Leichtmann has somehow managed to loop into a sound reminiscent of the abased guitars of My Bloody Valentine’s “Glider”.
Freedom of Noise mellows somewhat towards the end of the album, as the razor-sharp production values take a backseat to atmospherics. Otherworldly Alice Coltrane-esque harp and the imaginative interplay between trumpet and subtle electronic flourishes anchor the concrete assemblage of “Collage, Holz, Papier”. A fantastic title, “Gitarre Melancholisch” is a dreamy outro of spacious late 90s Labradford, Ennio Morricone and Jan Jelinek’s Tierbebachtungen album. Next time someone asks why I look down, I’ll simply tell him or her that I am afflicted by Gitarre Melancholisch, which should stymie further discussion! Hanno Leichtmann’s ear for melody, a smattering of dissonance and the occasional Gary Numan-style vocal all go towards producing a mighty fine album that reveals itself further upon repeated immersions in the Freedom of Noise.
Oliver Laing
