Release data:

Hans-Joachim Roedelius & Tim Story – Inlandish
CD, Grönland/Rough Trade, 2008

I’ve never been a fan of the rather experimental sounding works of former krautrock musician Hans-Joachim Roedelius, and I also had a rather hard time after Ohio-based composer Tim Story started putting out abstract/experimental ambient in various collaborations in the last decade.

So for me it was a pleasant surprise to find out “Inlandish” (the third collaborative effort of these two musicians) has a far more accessible sound.
For this instrumental ambient/neo-classical music (the follow-up of their album “Lunz”), Roedelius spend about ten days improvising and playing rather icy piano motifs.
After that, he simply handed them out to Tim Story who spend another five months or so composing refined electronic textures, fx’s and string sounds to surround and embed them.

The outcome is emotional and introspective music with lots of processed sounds, creating all kinds of images as its mesmerizing sound textures go by. I’m gratefull some bleeps and experiments are kept to a minimum, and only occasionally show up on the background.

The overall sound of the “Inlandish” is best described as hypnotic and lazy. The quiet soundings of the opening track “As we were” features some distinct melancholic undercurrents, followed by the engaging textures of the title track, while the third piece “Trouvé” contains some slight experimental angles and clicks.

The piano plays a leading role throughout, only backed up by cello, oboe and vionin in some tracks, with the synths acting merely as sort-of percussion instead of taking a leading role.

All in all, “Inlandish” is a work of modern ambient chamber music, but with an edge.