Johannes Schmoelling - A Long Way Home

Here is a track from the German electronic instrumentalist Johannes Schmoelling (formerly of Tangerine Dream 1980-1985). A Long Way Home is taken from the re-issue of White Out in 2000.

Here is a review of the album:

The albums concept itself is fairly unique. Inspired by Axel Engstfeld's film 'Antarctica Project', the book 'The Terrors of the Ice and the Darkness' by Christoph Ransmayrs, and an experimental sound performance he was working on with author Martin Burckhardt, WHITE OUT paints a musical portrait of the great lost continent in a manner that takes instrumental, synth-based music to a whole new level of creativity.

Here, Schmoelling had the opportunity to utilize all the different elements of his career: intricate musical composition, conceptual presentation, and even elements of live theatre. As a result, the style of each track varies somewhat from the others that surround it, which isn't something you'd normally expect on a "theme" album such as this. Cuts like 'White Out' and 'A Great Continent' build very slowly and deliberately, with each new sound that's introduced blending into a structural relationship with everything that preceded it until they become fully orchestrated, driving pieces. The title track in particular is a good point of reference as to where this type of music was at in Europe in 1990 (a path which was unfortunately far too short, by the way). Both these tracks are somewhat darker in tone, but not so much as you'd call them bleak. Conversely, cuts like "Icewalk" and "Navigator's Chatter" are more uptempo, and the latter even has hook that's ever so slightly reminiscent of a sea shanty.

I won't go into detail comparing and contrasting the two releases and breaking down what's been remixed, rerecorded, and so forth, though I will mention that the new version contains two new tracks: the subdued (but sometimes ominous sounding) 'Rain Echoes', and 'A Long Way Home', a piece that aptly reflects how those explorers must have felt all the way down at the bottom of the world. There's also a new mix of the aforementioned 'Icewalk' that closes the album out.

Musically, it doesn't get any better than this, and I'd have to agree that this is Schmoelling's strongest release to date. Believe it or not, he actually managed to improve on the original, which, again, is no small feat, and I believe his own comments reflect upon the thought that went into this project. "White Out- an optical illusion: the merging of Heaven and Earth, the absence of shadows, space without depth, without horizon.

Indeed.
(Chris Lawless, written for openupandsay)

Johannes Schmoelling