Ulrich Schnauss
At once uplifting and otherworldly, the music of Ulrich Schnauss combines multilayered synthesizers with beats and ethereal vocals, serving as an aural escape route from the trappings of reality. As Schnauss explains, ‘I’ve always used making and listening to music as a way to escape – putting on headphones is a great way to leave reality behind for a while, reminding yourself why it still makes sense to carry on.’
Today, Schnauss expresses a renewed interest in more direct electronic sounds, and aims to substitute traditional verse-chorus-verse structures for more freeform atmospherics.
In January 2013 Schnauss’ latest album ‘A Long Way To Fall’ was released to widespread acclaim, followed by a UK and European tour. Stripping back the orgiastic excess of multilayered instrumentation, ‘A Long Way To Fall’ intends to celebrate the synthesizer – the long-time cornerstone of Schnauss’s sound – as a musical instrument in its own right.
A Ritual in Time and Death
The closing track from ‘A Long Way to Fall‘ features powerfully emotional production, driven by synth arpeggios and rapid rhythms, complemented here by a dance performance from New York-based artist Denisas Kolomyskis on a windy beach. Directed by Nat Urazmetova, the clip alternates between shots of the dancer and abstract nature visuals.