Steinbrüchel is the ambient/abstraction project of Swiss producer Ralph Steinbrüchel, who has a tendency to create extended meditations based on previously recorded material or field recordings. Basis is no exception, consisting of highly processed reworkings of recordings of guitar music from Ben Frost and Lawrence English, as well as one very long take around the piano music of Bernd Schurer.
This album is nothing if not consistent -- if, based on listening to the clip I've posted, you are bored, or you don't like it, this is surely not the album for you. Steinbrüchel is not interested in drama or dynamics, but seems perfectly content painting an aural canvas that is subtly textured and somewhat monochromatic. If one were to compare his music with a painter's work, it might be Ad Reinhardt. Abstraction here is taken to a reasonable extremity, removing most traces of the guitar as a proper instrument and turning it into a series of drones, surfaces and overtones.
Each of the Lawrence English abstractions are numbered "Interlude 1" through "Interlude 4," and they are the most serene of the lot. They bookend and alternate within and around the other pieces, with most discernable tones sounding more like sedated chimes or synths than guitar, and most often sounding like an ebbing tide of drones. Each of the "Interludes" is shorter (averaging 5 to 7 minutes). By contrast, the Frost and Schurer pieces are far longer; the patience found in these extended interpretations by default lends to them more subtlety, traveling quite slowly from point A to B, and occasionally to point C or D from there. For instance, "These 1"'s introductory haze bristles for several moments before subsiding and gradually evolving into what sounds like a muted, somber rendering of Frost's "Theory of Machines" track (taken from his album of the same name, released last year). It shows how far very little can go, because it's not all that different from Frost's recording, consisting of the same repetitive chords, but completely declawed and neutralized into something less sinister and more meditative. Likewise, "These 2" (the other Ben Frost interpretation) begins as a dense fog of sound but gradually becomes distilled into something of a muted sparkle. Even more glacial is "Falter," a 20-minute take on the piano recordings of Bernd Schurer, which mutates slowly, gradually shifting in tone and color until it finally dissipates with a quiet sputter in its final moments.
This is not music that especially tells a story, or has any real entertainment value. It's a quiet series of studies in patience and restraint, which, when given the proper listening environment and attention, are quite rewarding.
mp3: These 1
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