Year Of

Slow Days is an unexpected gem of a rock album. Unexpected especially when one sees a line-up that includes Christof Kurzmann, Werner Dafeldecker and Paul Kling (aka Burkhard Stangl) — gentlemen generally known for the minimalist, atom-splitting haze of groups like Polwechsel. Eyebrows shoot up then when "Mantra” greets the ears, not with phantom whirrs and clicks, but the jazz/lounge wind-up of an after hours group about to ooze into a slow-core jam. The quintet also include Martin Siewert who supplies a full range of guitar motion and much of the album’s warmth, plus B. Fleischmann on live drums and electronics. In the quieter pieces Kurzmann’s hairline vocal resembles a less pliable David Sylvian, or on the up-tempo "Stephen Hawking,” a track that you could sneak onto New York without disturbing it’s flow, Lou Reed. "Calling Sky” shows off all the groups strengths, from a slow, crackling electro opening through the cool pulse of Kling’s vibraphone and Dafeldecker’s bass, the track builds through its 15 minutes into an ecstatic blast of horns and guitar noise. It’s an album of crafted detail and jewellers’ sparkling precision, unsurprising for players who usually build epics out of transistors and breath sounds.