Psi-Fi 1996 / Mental Experience 2017
Epitaph For Venus
From 1972-1973, largo lament to planetary movement in ivory skies – towards Krautrock and beyond.
One of the albums allegedly laid down for Cologne’s Pyramid label, this is a one-off proposition in terms of its structure. There are three epic pieces, two of those crossing a 15-minute mark, performed by three synthesizer operators – Johannes Lutz, Holst Seisert and Reinhard Karwatsky – two also adding an organ and one an electric piano to the spaced-out slab of ideas.
The gist of it is summed up in “Ethereal Jazz” where a warped clang creates a continuum for the spectral Hammond and Fender Rhodes who try to locate a tune that’s not there. Yet something should surely lurk in the depth of this intangible music. Celestially ordered white noise thickening on “Venus Rising” may be the closest the ensemble got to a melody. But it’s the artfully unfocused throb of “Lunarscape” that sends shards of crystalline bliss and occasional abstract chord to the farthest reaches of the universe – or, rather, receives otherworldly radio signals from the dark side of the moon.
Signing off with a thunderous sigh, a rare dynamic splash on this album, the escapist piece seals its nebulous enigma. It’s difficult to navigate through, if quite rewarding.
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