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Karl Schoenberg — Spectre
(Bandcamp Cyclical Dreams CYD0133, 2025, DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-09-17

Spectre Cover art

Karl Schoenberg is a French sound sculptor, composer and multi-instrumentalist who has been active for the last decade or so, releasing single tracks and some complete albums on his Bandcamp page, YouTube, Spotify, Tidal, and other online locations, also collaborating with other like-minded artists whenever possible. This year he released his first full length album for the Argentinean Cyclical Dreams label, Spectre, which is under review here. Spectre is the continuation of an earlier EP titled Places (from 2024), which I have to confess I’ve never heard, but it was a point where Schoenberg decided to explore a more minimalist and dark ambient direction, using field recordings he had collected together with his collection of sound tools (Max MSP, SuperCollider, PPOOLL) to concentrate more on the creative potential available from those tools and found sound loops. Places contained six cuts titled “Sound Sculpture 1” to “Sound Sculpture 6,” and Spectre picks up with the next six: “Sound Sculpture 7” through “Sound Sculpture 12,” with the title track and two additional pieces following those. Needless to say, all nine pieces are quite unconventional, most consisting of strong floating elements mixed with churning textures, but never with even a hint of cadence; some percussives like bells or processed piano can plainly be heard in many of the arrangements, either straight out of as part of gentle rolling loops, with strong waves of colorful synth tones and heavily processed guitar or zither all contributing to the wall of dark sonic bliss. On the six “Sound Sculpture” pieces, the feel is generally more explorative and improvisational, with occasional nods to some other better known ambient artists, but Schoenberg has his own way of presenting sounds and mixing them together that is very refreshing. “Beyond Time” begins with a repeating loop figure on prepared piano, one can hear the rough distortions evident in the analog tape envelop other sounds as the piece slowly builds. The title track shimmers with organic beauty as more elements are slowly added to the mix and it reaches to its three minute conclusion. The album concludes with “Bliss” almost sounding like a sped-up piano sharing the soundspace with a randomly played percussion-banjo and other interesting instrumental sounds, the textures being a high point. Spectre is indeed unusual, but rewarding for the listener looking for something new and different in the ambient / industrial / minimalist realm.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Karl Schoenberg

More info
http://cyclicaldreams.bandcamp.com/album/spectre-cyd-0133

 

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