Electric Mud - Quiet Days On Earth (CD)

Two years after the ambitious "The Deconstruction Of Light" it's time for new sounds from Electric Mud. Hagen Brettschneider, who provided the idea, took care of the quiet days on earth this time (somehow fitting to all the lockdowns caused by the Covid virus). "Quiet Days On Earth" is the name of their fifth studio album and is almost 80 minutes long. So again a lot more than the predecessor, which wasn't exactly short either.
In contrast to “The Deconstruction Of Light” this time there weren't any bluesy elements and the keyboard instruments were given a lot more weight. As a result, the partly rocky character of the previous album is lost in much more atmosphere, denser sound forms and sound collages, which sometimes even appear in film music character. Oh yeah, Electric Mud still doesn't have vocals. As usual, they are purely instrumental. The term post-progressive rock comes close to the whole thing.
So now it's time to immerse yourself in the sound worlds of Hagen Brettschneider for 80 minutes, as well as Nico Walser (sound mix, keyboards, noises), who is more in demand than ever, and who this time also recorded all the guitar parts. And what unfolds here, divided into 15 songs, is great instrumental art. You have to enjoy “Quiet Days On Earth” as a total work of art, picking out individual songs here makes no sense. The opener “Aurora Moon” makes it clear right away. Electric Mud invest a lot more in atmosphere, including many mystical sound forms, where the melodic, sometimes elegiac guitar harmonies shouldn't be missing.
After a quiet piano beginning, the opening number indulges in a rather sombre background mood, clears the whole thing up with "bright" synths, integrates a keyboard/chime duet and finally thunder and lightning. A start that couldn't be more impressive in terms of atmosphere.
The ebb and flow of moods is palpable throughout the album. Often provided with a melancholic sadness, for example with violin/strings in "Silhouettes Floating Down A Rain-Slicked Street", Nico Walser follows beautiful guitar melodies, which spoil the listener. Sometimes it's a music box (“Mer De Glace”), sometimes the synths waft out of the speakers until the door creaks at the end (“Durance”). Especially in longer pieces (which this time don't reach the 10-minute mark), an awful lot happens, but always within the framework of the spherical, sometimes spacy basic tone.
A fantastic instrumental album, with impressive and wonderful sound collages, as well as a lot of twists and turns within the defined framework. Electric Mud have slightly changed their sound in favor of the keys and synths. But even more intensity and atmosphere gained. An absolute musically valuable highlight.
Rock Castle Franconia

01 Aurora Moon
02 Silhouettes Floating Down A Rain-Slicked Street
03 Mer De Glance
04 Quiet Days On Earth
05 Wading Through The Waters Of Time
06 The Echoes Of Acheron
07 The Loneliness Of The Somnambulist
08 Durance