The cover is white with grey sans-serif text and on the inside sleeve, across from a dilated monochrome image of snow or possibly sand, are the lowercase words: “why are we frightened to be nothing?” Which would normally set me squirming, except that this is classic Wandelweiser – a select group of composers and performers whose aesthetic fixates on sparse, quiet, slow and subtly shaded sounds. The hour-long title track – the disc’s only one – for analogue synthesiser, microtonal saxophone and electronics by Argentinian saxophonist Sergio Merce often dissolves into long stretches of silence or pauses for whole minutes to consider a single groggy drone. It goes further into ambient territory than most Wandelweiser releases – yoga studios may find good use for it – but it is something worth listening to. The overtones are whispered, but listen closely and they’re incredibly lustrous; gentle palpitations in the bass keep nudging the momentum forwards, unhurried but always on the move.
