An Moku, Stefan Schmidt

*100 copies limited release* When Dominik Grenzler aka An Moku, a sound artist and bass player based in Zurich, approached Stefan Schmidt (guitarist, composer and improviser from Baden-Baden) with the idea of collaborating, it turned out the initial spark for a fruitful process and artistic exchange. Within just a couple of weeks they not only managed to craft “raum” (the german word for room / space), the duo also realized there was still a plethora of ideas to explore and that this first album wouldn’t be their last – rather, they conceived a full “raum”-trilogy, named after and inspired by a sentence Grenzler had read in David Foster Wallace’s unconventional bestseller novel “Infinite jest”: “die echte welt ist nur ein raum.” (“tThe real world is just a room.”).

On “Zwischenraum”, Grenzler and Schmidt continue their sonic trip into abstract voids, crafted by finely processed sounds of different origins like cello, field recordings and a vast array of electronic equipment. From the opener “yama” with its indian drone to the closer “sediment” the atmosphere is dark and alien, with references to hauntology and musique concrète, and yet organic, even harmonic. The future may be bleak, but there is still life.