A NDO C Y

Last year Hauschka (aka Volker Bertelmann) released Abandoned City, an album of stately prepared piano pieces inspired by forgotten locales that have been left to retreat back into nature. It was a gorgeous, uniquely evocative album that drew universal acclaim and elevated Hauschka's reputation as an elite modern composer. A NDO C Y is a continuation of the Abandoned City story, told as a tale of two sides. Side A features five tracks conceived during the Abandoned City sessions, a suite of songs that together form an exceptionally resonant whole. As with Abandoned City, these songs owe as much to minimalist techno as modern composition, which makes them particularly conducive to remixes. On Side B, experimental folk icon Devendra Banhart distills Abandoned City standout, "Agdam", to barely-there, fractured clusters of solitary piano strikes and swelling synths. By comparison, Eluvium's transformation of "Stromness" sounds almost shockingly euphoric, all cascading waves of distortion washed over a plethora of plucked piano pings. Included as a special bonus download is a stunning live album recorded in Yufuin, Japan in late 2014. The 40-minute performance is split into two 20-minute improvisations built on themes from Abandoned City. It's a gorgeous glimpse of live Hauschka, a world where songs you think you know become entirely new works of art at the mercy of Bertelmann's whims.