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Klangwelt — Second Nature
(Spheric Music SMCD 6105, 2025, CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-07-07

Second Nature Cover art

Klangwelt is the pseudonym of German electronic practitioner Gerald Arend, who also works as an audio instrument designer and making soundtracks for the computer gaming industry; the way I figure, he has released six albums since his 2002 debut Weltweit, three of his previous releases were covered in Exposé. So naturally, the latest album Second Nature is not his second album — far from it. His work blends the styles of many who have gone before him — sequences, beats, arpeggiations, voice samples and found sounds, choirs, floating ambient passages, and more — a primarily instrumental brew that may at times recall the late Vangelis and Klaus Schulze, Neuronium, Jean-Michel Jarre, and certain time periods of Tangerine Dream’s decades-long trajectory. “Weightless Heart” is an example of one of the few pieces that features melodically soaring vocals over a strong beat and churning colorful synths (specific credits on the album are few), while “Never Again” rises up from a gentle beginning, quickly launching into an intensely rhythmic sequenced passage, wandering in and out of passages with voice samples, just clear enough to generate interest but still hidden below the surface stirring. These might be the album’s finest pieces; both pieces clock in between six and seven minutes, allowing enough time to develop compositional complexity as they proceed. Opener “Empress” rises slowly with colorful sprites leading the way through a mystical forest with powerful voice samples from afar, while its follow-on, “Molecules,” churns along amid a repeating voice sample with an almost cinematic quality. The production throughout is engaging, endlessly reaching for perfection, a listener can easily get lost within this enigmatic soundworld. The closing cut, “Letters,” is propelled by deep bass synth tones following a slower beat ornamented with beatiful sounds all around, and again with a prominent and surreal vocal presence and curious dreamlike samples. Second Nature offers a rich, innovative, and majestic sound, a path forward while not completely breaking with the past.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Klangwelt

More info
http://www.klangwelt.info/album/second-nature

 

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