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Markus Reuter

with Mannheimer Schlagwerk - Sun Trance

Review by Gary Hill

This new release is essentially a single. Well, that's only so true. First, the piece is almost 36-and-a-half minutes long. Secondly, in addition to the audio, there is also a video file of the performance. This is piece that has a lot of classical music in its musical form. It has some intriguing changes, but is an organically growing and transforming thing. It's not really progressive rock, but it is definitely progressive music. It is an instrumental song that plays like an album. You can always count on Markus Reuter for quality and creativeness, and this is no exception.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2020  Volume 5. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2020.

Track by Track Review
Sun Trance

Chiming vibraphone and gentle atmospherics bring this into being. It begins to rise up very gradually from there. It doesn't really get very far up before about the six-and-a-half-minute mark when a new movement with some more energy emerges. It's not a huge change, but it does have more rhythmic elements and intensity. It continues evolving and rising gradually upward from there. It gets into some mysterious territory as the intensity drops around the 11-and-a-half-minute mark. It loses no magic or charm, despite the lower volume levels. There is a bit of a soundtrack vibe to the piece at this point. A more active and moving section, a bit like the previous more rhythmic mode, emerges a while later to take things in a new direction. Reuter's guitar rises up with a majesty and slow moving delivery around the 15-and-a-half-minute mark. It definitely brings some King Crimson-like sounds with it. I love how the piece continues to evolve and grow from there. Classical music mixes with other Crimsonian ones to create some real magic. There is a short drop back as it approaches the 26-minute mark. The cut seems to turn a corner into a new movement from there. It's not a huge change, but it is a definite change. The guitar comes back in again and leads a new excursion as the song continues. The guitar really starts to power upward as the number continues to grow. Around the 32-minute mark it drops way down to spacey elements, but the chiming remains. It is trippy and just a little menacing. Eventually that movement works through and gives way to a rather jazzy section that is still mellow and classically based.

 
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