Call and Response by Stefan Goldmann

https://ashinternational.bandcamp.com/album/call-and-response

Genre: Experimental

Rating: Highly Recommended

As the title hints at Call and Response is the artistic expression of reverberation. If the machines have any sentience perhaps they feel like slaves and chain gang workers from the past. Musically this also calls on more modern traditions. A 2022 release like this with this sound isn’t aggressively challenging a status quo. That fight ended in a whimper by next and next next generation composers but still in style and execution I could understand calling this electro-acoustic or musique concrete except without the baggage. It’s also experimental in the original sense of the genre. Goldmann is experimenting with a unique technique to create something new. Yet, and yes I know it’s a cliché to claim it’s both of two paradoxically estranged styles but it does lean into much older traditions as well. Perhaps “call and response” is the oldest. Without having read the excellent bandcamp notes I might think of this as simply dark ambient or drone. I’m big a big fan of both of those movements but there’s certainly a bit of an over saturation problem. Same as any other work from those genres this needs a sonic niche that separates itself from the herd and something that’s effective. Something that actively engages the listener. And all that is achieved here and more. Music like this demands focus from the listener but it’s very well awarded here. This is music to listen to loud.