SOLARIZE - Nachtwerk (1991-1998)

"Bureau B issues Solarize's compilation Nachtwerk (1991-1998). Since 1981 Wilfried Franzen and Thomas Grötz have been developing their own version of experimental pop music, which oscillates between song structures, noise, and psychedelic trance. Bass and keyboards form the instrumental substructure of the duo's compositions, which are enriched with guitars, violin, piano, electronic percussions, and samples. After self-publishing various cassettes and cds, Nachtwerk (1991-1998) is their first official release, presenting selected pieces from the years 1991 to 1998. The two school friends started their musical collaboration in Papenburg in northwestern Germany. A self-empowerment related to punk and post-punk served as a catalyst and encouraged them to develop their own musical cosmos. "We did not seek for a solid stylistic concept. Occasionally we used various genres and musical trends as inspiration. The typical result was not easily identifiable as new wave, trance, intelligent dance music, Krautrock, and so on." A special approach to music, characterized by a non-musical perspective i.e. the visual arts, has played an important role. This is almost inevitably a result of their subsidiary activities, working and articulating as visual artists and art historians. Their creations made of sound emerged during their multi-day retreats were almost never played again afterwards. "Everything that we got our hands on served as an instrument, no matter whether we were able to play it or not, as long as it matched our musical visions. The outcome was documented with simple tape recorders and later with four-track devices." In this way, Solarize produced more than 250 songs and instrumentals over a period of almost 20 years. Nachtwerk (1991-1998)brings together everything that makes up the unspecified stylistic, yet consistent approach of Solarize: bright and sunny melodies, creaky violin and e-bow trips, seriously fiddled compositions, polyrhythmic dense ambient landscapes, teaspoon-samples with interview sections, and dramatic piano excursions." - Bureau B.