California-bred synth experimenter Jeff Witscher is a busy performer, with limited releases through projects like Impregnable, Secret Abuse, Marble Sky and Mandelbrot & Skyy, among others. It's under the Rene Hell moniker, however, that the performer has broken through. In 2010, he dropped Porcelain Opera, the first widely released Rene Hell album through the Type label. This year, he will return with The Terminal Symphony.
A press release explains that The Terminal Symphony sees Witscher exploring "his love of classical minimalism," adding that "the result is a deeply electronic rendition of a classical electronic formula... The Terminal Symphony is Jeff's attempt to write tighter, more composed pieces of music -- something of a reaction against the glut of long, often-flabby drone compositions that have become a mainstay in the scene. The pieces here are short, concise, and packed full of ideas that can take multiple listens to unravel, and the album as a whole is almost obsessively structured and complex."
Type Records will release The Terminal Symphony on vinyl and CD on May 10. The vinyl version includes a bonus CD with a 40-minute piece called The Hilton. Better yet, the entire record can be streamed below, where you can also watch the new music video for the album track "E.S. Des Grauens In Fifths."
UPDATE: The limited vinyl release with the bonus CD is out now, though it's quickly becoming a tricky one to hunt down. So you may want to start hunting for that ASAP.
The Terminal Symphony:
1. "Chamber Forte"
2. "Quiet Detail Muse"
3. "Cello Suite No.3"
4. "E.S. Des Grauens In Fifths"
5. "Baroque Ensemble Coda"
6. "Lighthouse Marvel"
7. "Juliard Op. 66"
8. "Oxford Meter End"
9. "Detuned Clarinet"
10. "Adagio For String Portrait"
Rene Hell - The Terminal Symphony by _type
A press release explains that The Terminal Symphony sees Witscher exploring "his love of classical minimalism," adding that "the result is a deeply electronic rendition of a classical electronic formula... The Terminal Symphony is Jeff's attempt to write tighter, more composed pieces of music -- something of a reaction against the glut of long, often-flabby drone compositions that have become a mainstay in the scene. The pieces here are short, concise, and packed full of ideas that can take multiple listens to unravel, and the album as a whole is almost obsessively structured and complex."
Type Records will release The Terminal Symphony on vinyl and CD on May 10. The vinyl version includes a bonus CD with a 40-minute piece called The Hilton. Better yet, the entire record can be streamed below, where you can also watch the new music video for the album track "E.S. Des Grauens In Fifths."
UPDATE: The limited vinyl release with the bonus CD is out now, though it's quickly becoming a tricky one to hunt down. So you may want to start hunting for that ASAP.
The Terminal Symphony:
1. "Chamber Forte"
2. "Quiet Detail Muse"
3. "Cello Suite No.3"
4. "E.S. Des Grauens In Fifths"
5. "Baroque Ensemble Coda"
6. "Lighthouse Marvel"
7. "Juliard Op. 66"
8. "Oxford Meter End"
9. "Detuned Clarinet"
10. "Adagio For String Portrait"
Rene Hell - The Terminal Symphony by _type
Rene Hell "{e.s. des Grauens in fifths}" from Megazord on Vimeo.