The Isle

After two internationally acclaimed Wechsel Garland albums ("Wechsel Garland" and "Liberation von History") and their precursor "Wunder," Jörg Follert no longer needs an introduction, at least not in circles of electronic music aficionados. On "The Isle," Follert teamed up with Japanese artist Sohichiro Suzuki, aka World Standard, who, despite having created a body of work that stretches out over 20 years, is not very widely known. Suzuki released many of his albums through Haruomi Hosono's Daisyworld label. Thematically, his work is located on the fringes of European, American, and Far Eastern "exotic music." It's almost impossible to fathom who did what in this collaboration. Follert and Suzuki met twice in Japan to record together; the rest of the album was done "by mail." Delicately plucked acoustic guitars are broken up into fragments and re-assembled, strings snuggle against the cozy sounds of melodica and toy piano, while sparsely used elements of percussion are reluctant to pick up the pulse, since they do not want to irritate the fragile arrangements, which are constantly petering out into the off. In a loose, but harmonic sequence, the 15 tracks of "The Isle" create a mood music that is calm and still like a summerhouse by the edge of the sea. Its music chirps like the steppe in Tuscany during May.