Short Reviews [Markus Reuter - 2020 - "Sun Trance"]

This collaboration came together after Markus was contacted by Dennis Kuhn from the famous Mannheimer Schlagwerk percussion ensemble. Led by Kuhn, they have built a reputation for experimental music, so a collaboration with Reuter (King Crimson, Stick Men), is in many ways an obvious choice. Recorded on May 23rd, 2017, at Alte Feuerwache, Mannheim, Germany, this finds the ensemble working from Reuter’s score, while he himself improvised over the top (although this has also now been notated for future reference). This 36-minute-long single piece of music find Markus interacting with young musicians, with plenty of vibraphones, to create something that is pushing musical boundaries so much so that one would say this is modern classical, or is it experimental, or it is progressive? It is probably the latter but using the word in its truest sense as opposed to describing yet another Genesis clone. In many ways, the closest band with which this bears any relationship is unsurprisingly King Crimson yet given Fripp’s penchant for permanently pushing boundaries and utilising different techniques and styles one can imagine hm also wanting to be involved in a project just like this. Themes are repeated, but moved around and changed, and gentle breaks in the music allows the mind to reset. Markus allows the other instruments to cast their waterlike simplicity, like notes falling onto leaves, and then puts his distorted guitar over the top when the time is right to create a totally different emotional response. For anyone who enjoys something a little different, with plenty of space and time being given to the listener to come into their world, this is a work of delicacy and grace.