Disconnected

Ernest Paik

The Pulse, Oct 2007

Here's a promising setup: start with the legendary, inimitable Krautrock outfit Faust and get the equally idiosyncratic Nurse With Wound to produce and mix. Faust was among the most adventurous and creative German bands of the 70s, and after disappearing for a decade and a half, they reunited in the 90s and made several startlingly good albums. Today, drummer Werner 'Zappi' Diermaier and bassist Jean-Hervé Peron are the only original members, joined by Amaury Cambuzat from the band Ulan Bator. Nurse With Wound, formed three decades ago, is the brainchild of Steven Stapleton, now augmented with Colin Potter; NWW recordings are notoriously varied, often sprawling, haunting, and strange, with a love of musique concrète and disquieting sounds.

Disconnected features four songs, each over ten minutes long, and the special edition includes a bonus live track, the raucous Hard Rain. The opener, Lass Mich uses an audio collage technique, often employed by both bands, and it's closest in spirit to Faust's first, self-titled album and The Faust Tapes, as ideas emerge and fade and sound snippets are juxtaposed with vocal samples. Halfway through the song, a drumbeat starts with a heavy one-note bass line, and the track gradually gets more chaotic with squeaks, a looped drone of strings, and a mysterious voice asking, "Hallo?" The tracks Disconnected and It Will Take Time are reminiscent of NWW's lengthy Soliloquy for Lilith, which featured modulating tones created by the hum of effects processors in a feedback loop; they're hypnotizing, zone-out songs that listeners will either love or hate. Tu m'entends? is also trance inducing, but more elements are present, such as hand drums, faint echoing electronic squeals, and continually ramping tones. It's one of the least rock-oriented Faust albums, and apart from Lass Mich, it leans more toward the NWW side than the Faust side. Disconnected is a successful collaboration, appealing to drone/experimental sensibilities and overlaying two distinct, fascinating musical identities.

ref: The Pulse