Broekhuis, Keller & Schönwälder - Live @ Dorfkirche Repelen 2

3.5

Release data:

Broekhuis, Keller & Schönwälder – Live @ Dorfkirche Repelen 2
CD, Manikin Records, 2008

This release by the well-known trio Bas Broekhuis, Detled Keller and Mario Schönwälder is a double live album, which sees the musicians play with Raughi Ebert (electric and acoustic guitar) and Thomas Kagermann (violin) during a concert on January 20th 2008 at the Dorfkirche Repelen.

“Lanes of the Lord” starts out with nice, quiet atmospheric music, choir sounds, nicely fitting in the sacred environment. The lyrical violin on the meandering soundungs of “Moers I” takes things to another level, radiating a contemplative feel, while “Rock This!” ventures in more up-tempo territory with prominent (to my taste a bit too loud) e-guitar. A choir joins the band on the sensitive, melancholic “Source of Life”, a highlight for sure on the first disc. On this piece, vibrant acoustic guitar and violin are added to the symphonic synths later on.

The light, warm sounding “Moers Part II” continues in a smooth, easy-going manner, the violin making it softly shine even more. “Shiauliai” sounds improvised to my ears, rather dragging on between a static rhythym, violin and harsh e-guitars parts, not forming a coherent whole.
Things turn up-tempo on the simple sounding closing 10-minute piece “Esrever oloS”, on which a simple, repeated synth-trumpet tries to make things attractive without effort, followed by soloing violin and synth. Sorry guys, you can do much better than that.

The second disc comprises five tracks recorded at concerts at the same location in January 2006 and 2007, plus a recording of a rehearsal of the complete band.
“Return to the beginning” ventures out with warm synth pads, gradually evolving into a nice rhythmic outing with exotic flavours, offering a nice interplay of flute, violin and acoustic guitar parts.
It’s good example of the evoked joy when musical ideas melt together properly. Engaging soundscapes with vocal samples create a quiet, intimate but great atmosphere which changes around the 10-minute mark with the introduction of nicely shifting sequencer patterns.

“Klaus, where are you?”, another highlight on this disc, presents well balanced Berliner School sequencing and Grosskopf-like powerful drums (think of Schulze’s “Live..”), including joyous violin ands synth soloing.
“Another Magic Moment” is another rhythmic excursion with bass sequence, synths and poignant e-guitar and violin licks.
“Cut & Paste” is exactly what is says: an improvised messy session with no red line.
Fortunately, the nicely packed digi-pack, which comes with a 16-page full color photo booklet, ends with a nice, quiet piece for acoustic guitar and synth only: “Raughis Song”.

Website: www.manikin.de

You can see what reviews I have done of these artists on the Bas Broekhuis, Detlef Keller and Mario Schönwälder artist pages