Raum is
Tangerine Dream's second studio full-length since founder
Edgar Froese died in 2015, though the group has additionally released several live albums and EPs. For this recording,
Thorsten Quaeschning,
Hoshiko Yamane, and recent addition
Paul Frick (of
Brandt Brauer Frick) were given access to
Froese's archive of Cubase arrangements and tape recordings dating back to the 1970s, so like their previous studio album, 2017's
Quantum Gate, he's still present in spirit. Notably absent is
Ulrich Schnauss, who joined the band in 2014, yet curiously enough, the album often sounds more like his own work than
Tangerine Dream's -- glimmering opener "Continuum" and the downtempo crawl "You're Always on Time" are both easy to mistake for
Schnauss, or contemporaries such as
Tycho.
Raum's centerpiece is the 19-minute "In 256 Zeichen." Following a nebulous intro,
Yamane's mesmerizing violin loops emerge, and they become swept away in a current of percolating synths and intricate beats. The horizon clears for a stunning burst of light, which gives way to the album's sweetest, most hopeful melodies. While moments like this are a thrilling blend of old and new, one of the record's best tracks is much more in line with vintage
Tangerine Dream. "Along the Canal" is filled with jittery arpeggios and flute-like synth trails, and like the band's mid-'70s work, it feels like it's being shaped by human hands in real time rather than meticulously programmed. "Raum" is the album's other epic, and it's somewhere in between '90s ambient techno and space rock, with lush synth pads accompanied by distorted leads that come close to sounding like soaring guitars. The rhythmic pulsations and arpeggios build up without fully locking into a beat pattern, and after it feels like the band is pausing to avoid the risk of burnout, wisps of synth and violin textures begin to seep in, and the track momentarily returns to full bloom. As
Tangerine Dream's influence seemed more prominent throughout electronic music during the 2010s than it had since the group's heyday, the existing lineup produced the band's most inspired work in ages.
Raum feels a little bit more like a transitional work than the unexpectedly solid
Quantum Gate, but that album seemed like more of an overt revisit of the band's classic sound, while
Raum finds them taking more chances and exploring fresh ideas. ~ Paul Simpson
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