LEWIS, KLARA - Thankful

"Klara Lewis' latest offering is undoubtedly a heartfelt tribute to her friend, mentor and former label boss, Peter Rehberg. The opening track "Thankful" resides as a direct tribute to the track recorded under his PITA moniker, the timeless "Track 3." Countless new youth carve and project wildly distorted melodic digital matter which all falls back with a knowing or unknowing wink to this original ground zero monster. Klara's take on this is one that resides as a tribute to Rehberg with a cascading emotional melody gradually succumbing to a euphoric digital abyss. Thankful also comes across as a farewell gesture to her deceased friend with its beautiful, almost funeral tone. The abrupt ending is not only a method Rehberg would have relished but also a signifier of a life suddenly cut short. The track "Ukulele 1" is another tender tribute within an album made by a human, utilizing contemporary technology with absolute sincerity, surprise twists and sublime emotion. The sound of the instrument in the title gently loops and deconstructs in a recording replete with the sound of the room it is recorded in. A human element appears at exactly the point an increasingly inhuman approach is becoming the forced raison d'etre today. One of Peter's many repeated phrases was the word "top." One he used at any occasion to agree with a vast array of subjects. With this musical tribute to Rehberg's favorite phrase, Lewis conjures a short blast of mutant acid techno which shrivels and thrives as much as it lives and dies. Following "Top" is the reflective and deeply moving "4U." No words. Just sounds. As it was. And lives on. "Ukulele 2" sits at the end, as an epilogue of sorts, fashioning itself as an ouroboros with the return of the initial methodology of the previous track "Thankful." This time around the sublime melody of the previous "Ukulele 1" plays out in returnal as it is gently swarmed by all manner of digital play. Thankful is an emotionally considered and precise homage to the methodology and spirit of Peter Rehberg. A new work which inhabits the spirit for what this was written for and the general guise devised with the launch of the original MEGO label many moons ago."