A stunning, glowing review has been published—so vivid and expressive that we couldn’t have said it better ourselves. We couldn’t wait to share it with you!
Our heartfelt thanks and warmest regards to the author, “Dionys.”

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The GIRAFFE trio from Hamburg is composed of Sasha Demand on guitar, Jürgen Hall on keyboards and electronics, and Charly Schöppner on percussion, who sadly passed away before the recording was complete. The album was initially recorded in Schöppner’s garage and was later completed posthumously by the other two members. It features nine improvised compositions, each lasting from six to over nine minutes.

This album is instantly captivating. It clearly forms a cohesive whole, as reflected in the numbering from 1 to 9 (in a shuffled order). The trio immerses the listener in a magnetic crucible of haunting experimental electro-pop, the kind that simulates the swirling of atoms, charged with glimmers of light. This music is intense, dense, and solidly anchored by the percussion. It moves from dark, incandescent post-rock—pierced with sirens and broad, rippling synthetic waves streaked by guitar (as in “ATOM IX”; track 3)—to minimalistic, haunting music like the extraordinary “ATOM VIII” (track 4).

“ATOM VII” (track 5) masterfully combines sharp, varied percussion, synthetic modulations, and prepared guitar in a piece that feels like a post-industrial environment in meltdown, slashed and searing. “ATOM VI” (track 6) rumbles and hisses amidst heavy strikes: a dark, condensed energy, a hallucinatory soundtrack of a world under siege, singing beneath the bombs!

The three digital bonus tracks (ATOM II, III, and IV) are equally impressive, more austere and hieratic. ATOM II and III seem like the emanations of a ghostly creature, chained in an icy realm—a fitting soundtrack for Dante’s Inferno! In contrast, ATOM IV soars, with grand, dark organ notes carrying a percussive chaos in its folds, like matter rebelling against transcendence. What an apotheosis… truly pandemonic!

One of the great albums of the year. A composition of powerful restraint, so much so that one forgets its improvised nature, which too often suggests looseness and self-indulgence. Magnificent!

https://inactuelles.over-blog.com/2024/08/giraffe-atoms.html