Detailed Reviews [Soniq Theater - 2021 - "Time and Space"]

Prolusion. Time and Space is the 21st studio work by Soniq Theatre, a solo project from Germany based entirely on one person, Alfred Mueller. This is so far the musician’s last but one album released in 2021, on January 1 – the release day for almost all Alfred’s works except for, perhaps, a couple

Analysis. There are solo projects with one obvious leader, which, however, involve several other people all together making up a band and contributing to a varying extent to the writing and production of music. There are also other solo musicians, like Mueller’s compatriot Arne Schafer – very versatile ones, using only their ideas, playing most instruments themselves, doing most of the recording work. Alfred Mueller belongs to a third, rare category of musicians who, except on very rare occasions, do everything themselves on one instrument. Whether it is a tradition, the proverbial German punctuality or a way to discipline oneself, I don’t know, but with very few exceptions Alfred Mueller releases his albums once a year exactly on 1 January. This has been the case with Time and Space, too. Stylistically and conceptually, the reviewed album stands in line with the rest of Mueller’s discography, and the music there is made with the help of only one instrument – synthesizers. These, however, are not used to create a kind of ambience, but rather to reproduce all other conventional rock instruments – bass and electric guitars, drums and keyboards proper, offering a wide range of sounds. Yet, Alfred never tries to mislead the listener, and his synthetic music does not pretend something it is actually not: that is when you hear the drums, or the sax, you never question their digital origin. This results in an impression the composer is not quite serious, he is just playing, joking, and his music is a kind of ‘toy,’ which endows his work with some charm. Despite being very prolific, Alfred Mueller quite manages not to repeat himself from album to album. The all-instrumental compositions are not long, simply but solidly structured and thus are interesting to listen to. Mueller is no stranger to musical zests like odd or syncopated beats, sonic effects and tends to explore styles unconventional to him, like funk and jazz. Another advantage of this album is that it does contain any poorly thought-out and arranged material, seemingly made in haste shortly before release, which is often found in Soniq Theatre’s other works.

Conclusion. Although I am not a big fan of Soniq Theatre, there is much to respect Alfred Mueller for. Some musicians may like to work in a team, others may not. Probably, Alfred belongs to this latter category. This does not prevent him from making solid, full-weight music all by himself, and over the years he has managed to develop his own original style. You should try this band, even if you are not into electronic music, because it is not quite about what music so labelled usually offers. Just try one of the innumerable interesting facets of what we know as prog rock.

Progmessor: August 2022
The Rating Room