Cluster - Sowiesoso

Mystical, caramelised, like father like son

After the hardcore experiment of early (some say unlistenable) albums such as Cluster and Cluster 2, Moebius & Roedelius hit a purple patch with the ‘commercial’ Zuckerzeit in 1974, recorded with the new technology that was rhythm machines and drum boxes, in a farmhouse in the Weser Valley. For 1976’s Sowiesoso, they adopted the same accessible style: machines given human shape in the form of delicate call-and-response eddies in sound. Three decades have not dimmed its majestic sweep, from the burbling opening of the title track to the oceanic ambience of the closing In Eternity. Produced by Conny Plank, it is the true blueprint for Bowie/Eno electronica and more. Today, Cluster are acknowledged for bringing Gamelan and other Eastern ideas to a German scene crumbling under excessive free improvisation.

Water | 186

Reviewed by Mark Prendergast
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