The Hauchzart Ensemble – Hauchzart Momentum Vol. I

What a remarkable work this is.  The Hauchzart Ensemble includes our dear colleague Wilfried Hanrath, who plays guitar, bass, drums, beats, synth and electronics on this album, along with Matt Getchell, who also provides electronics, synthesizer and beats.

This album takes quite a journey, starting off with a track that, if you can believe it, reminded me of the better aspects of bands like Michael Cretu’s seminal electro-pop band Enigma.  It sounded like a very accessible piece of electronic pop, which was a good start, but then the musicians started to really surprise me with elements of bands like Tuxedomoon or Cudù, perhaps a bit of the legendary Italian group Pierrot Luniare, and even Klaus Schulze in parts.  There’s a dark undercurrent to the music which grabbed my attention about five minutes into the album, and it managed to keep me focused throughout.