Abandoned City
Hauschka is a composer, songwriter and experimental musician who has brought an exciting new perspective to the prepared piano - a technique for getting new sounds from the acoustic keyboard by resting pieces of paper or drumsticks on the strings of the instrument. Abandoned City was recorded in Hauschka's home studio in a burst of creative energy following the birth of his first son. The songs were recorded using nine microphones. Six recorded the sounds coming from the piano strings through an analogue console feeding directly into a computer to preserve the instrument's full, warm sound. Three others passed the tones through a mixer full of effects - delay, distortion, echo - that can be triggered separately or used simultaneously. Hauschka creates the music and the arrangements as he goes, trusting the music to take him in the proper direction. “Most of the songs were played on one piano; I was mixing as I played. If I needed more piano, I overdubbed with another twiddling of effects. All the sounds - harp, balafon, Melodica, drums - are produced by the keyboard,” Hauschka explains. The compositions on Abandoned City awaken the loneliness and unattainable romance of timeless, unfamiliar places, with cinematic melodies full of resonant overtones, bright cheerful keyboard patterns and dark percussive touches. The tracks all bear the names of actual vacant cities. Hauschka chose Abandoned City as the title of the album to convey the sense of hope and sadness that consumes him when he's sitting alone at the keyboard. “I was interested in finding a metaphor for the inner tension I feel when I'm composing music, a state of mind where I'm lonely and happy at the same time,” Hauschka professes. “When I saw photos of abandoned cities, I felt it was perfect. People once lived there, but they left in a rush and now nature has taken over in a beautiful way, things are growing up from the sidewalk and the seasons are changing colors. The music is dark, but in a quiet, uplifting way. The piano is singing the melody but, because of the effects, you can't hear it directly. It's like the sound of a choir under the earth, something you feel without realizing it.”
As Hauschka, Volker Bertelmann writes fairly plain piano music that winds up sounding bewilderingly elaborate. On his new Abandoned City, songs have a clumsy grace, eagerly tripping over themselves as they rush between frolicsome and ominous moods.
Not at all a record that will ensnare the majority's hearts, but one that will reward a precious few greatly.
As Hauschka, Volker Bertelmann's skill and creativity in bringing the prepared piano into the 21st century are well-known, but Abandoned City is his first album to feature the instrument this prominently since 2005's aptly named The Prepared Piano.
Under the name Hauschka, Volker Bertelmann has been working at his prepared piano thing for over a decade now.
One thing about Hauschka's music is that once you've seen it performed live—hell, a YouTube clip will almost suffice—it's impossible to dissociate the visual from the sounds you're hearing.
With Abandoned City, Hauschka allows himself to add a certain depth of feeling to his usual showmanship and rhythmic panache.