Ulrich Schnauss

Thought it’s often said that an album’s cover can fittingly portray the emotion of the music inside it, the digitally processed mid-bloom tulips on the cover of Ulrich Schnauss’s second offering couldn’t be a more suitable representation of the heart-wrenching wall of sound electronics contained within it. Equal parts modern electronica and shoegazer throwback, A Strangely Isolated Place will appeal to anyone who likes their dreams to come on slow and mysterious before erupting into pure rushes of joy. Fans of Manitoba’s Up In Flames, Slowdive, M83 and Seefeel will all hail this as the next level in shoegazer’s majestic and undermined evolution from the guitar to the laptop, and they’ll be spot on: Ulrich Schnauss’s sophomore is nothing short of spectacular. Soundscapes, rhythms, vocals, beats — nothing escapes the swirling mix of this album’s masterful flow as it effortlessly moves from one dimension into the next, each track acting as both an individual triumph and an epic piece of the overall picture. This is one of the more notable electronic albums of the year and will hopefully not be swept under the rug, as it’s definitely a dream worth remembering.