Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Deuter - Silence Is The Answer (Kuckuck, 1981)

Georg Deuter, born in Germany in 1945, is widely acknowledged as a progenitor of New Age music. Deuter decided to dedicate himself to music and spiritual pursuits after a near-fatal car accident in the late 1960's. He traveled to Asia, eventually settling in India where he studied under Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Much of his music is self recorded to tape during his travels. His first album, D, was released in 1971 and is considered a krautrock classic. His subsequent releases feature motifs that have become mainstays of New Age music, i.e; long droning passages, acoustic and ethnic instrumentation, and use of nature sounds. 

Silence Is The Answer is a double LP. The first disc is comprised of droning, meditative pieces with thoughtful percussion and blissful instrumentation. It is probably intended for meditation accompaniment. The second disc, perhaps intended to represent stages in meditation, features short, heavily melodic and uptempo songs with almost prog-rock like synth lines and structures. Overall though, they maintain the sentiments of the first disc, but with more elation and less introspection. Though probably not Deuter's finest work, and almost formulaic by this time in his career, Silence Is The Answer did mark a chapter in a very interesting man's life and does instill a sense of tranquility.

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