TARWATER - The Needle Was Traveling

There's a veil of subtle lightness that seems to separate us from the new work by the German duo (Ronald Lippock and Bernd Jestram). A lightness that turns into delicacy and compositional balance as the listens grow more mature and absorbing.

An enjoyable record despite a limited appetite for sonic exploration, all resolved into a world where, having left certain keyboard-based minimalism almost entirely aside, the two focus on testing an ever-intriguing relationship - though never quite miracle-worthy - between traditional instruments and sampling.

This is the foundation on which the 14 tracks contained here take shape, with contributions to their creation also coming from Dirk Dresselhuas (Schneider Tm), Marc Weiser (Rechenzentrum) and Hano Leichtmann (Static).

The muted, delicate yet enveloping beat is enriched, in an alchemical whirl, with details that now hide, now burst forth, drawing their compositions ever closer to song form. "Across The Dial" is an excellent proof of compositional maturity in this respect, even as it emerges from a rather predictable and self-contained trip-hop humus.

Measured, whimsical and with a killer arrangement. Radio-friendly just enough. Never sharp-edged.

Still wonderfully evocative is the human electronics of "Stone", with lyrical diagonals and cosmic visions.

The polyphonic fanfare of "Seven Of Nine" winks at a certain strain of Notwist, while "Entry" slides sinister into a romantically hazy waste-land, complete with crepuscular trumpet (which resurfaces in the electro-acoustic jazz of "Yeah" and, in indietronic guise, in "Unseen In The Disco") and hailstorms of glitch...

The cover of "Babylonian Tower" (Minimal Compact) navigates a strange, Morricone-esque landscape, as if it had been sketched by a distracted Stan Ridgway.

Minimal beats, blithely sly loops and fragile harmonies ("Tv Blood"), hypnotic ones ("The People"), carefree ones ("All That"), beguilingly intriguing ones with sweeping little keyboards ("Jackie") sketch out the profile of a sound rich in nuance, even if its emotional weight doesn't always live up to their past.

Something that instead seems to be dusted off in the tiptoeing ballad of "In A Single Place" and the misshapen haze of "Home Tonight".

A game of mirrors and toy-electronics inside a chilly electro shell is, finally, what saturates the sonic space of "90 Days".

We spoke of a thin veil of lightness.

It's certainly a lightness that speaks to the heart more than the mind. But with a modicum of reason, it isn't hard to spot in this new incarnation of the Tarwater creature a certain hollowness of content truly worth noting.

In the struggle between instinct (always ready to give, in spite of everything) and deliberation, this time one should side with the latter...

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30/04/2026