PERRACHE - LETTER TO JANE EP (K7)

I never know what the status of Superpolar Taips is, but it's good to see another sign of life. It's from Joachim Henn, the man behind Perrache, and, a long time ago, a member of Ma Chérie For Painting, which was a band I loved but eventually forgot to revisit. That could always change, time permitting, etc. That was what we called back then a post-rock group, perhaps a bit more experimental than many others, and some of that experimentation Henn uses in his solo work as Perrache. Previously, I wrote about his music, highlighting his intense love for the kosmische element in music, which was influenced by Conrad Schnitzler and Cluster, both in the earliest phases of their career. The title is a reference to" Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still," the experimental companion documentary to Jean-Luc Godard's movie "Tout va bien," which does not necessarily mean much to me. Henn uses a lot of synthesiser sounds, bleeping away and droning on endlessly, all neatly sequenced in slowed-down arpeggios. An EP, it clocks in at 28 minutes. None of the six pieces is too long, as Perrache doesn't like to doodle away, running his synths on automatic pilot. This is not necessarily all Berlin school in that respect. He takes the elements to his advantage and composes some strong music with this. Music for head space and a glass of wine, and a smoke - well, if the doctor would allow me. (FdW)