Recondite is a German artist known for his music on iconic record labels such as Afterlife.
In January 2022, Recondite returns to his Plangent label with an expansive new album, Taum. All 11 tracks were written during the pandemic and capture the array of emotions he was feeling during those tumultuous times.
For his seventh studio album, the prolific German artist found himself reverting to a setup similar to one he used when he first started making music over a decade ago. Armed with an understanding of musical theory learned in the years since he is now back in the box, but the results remain as blurry-edged and autumnal as ever. Taum was written between Recondite’s Berlin home of the last 10 years, and the Lower Bavaria hinterland of his youth. And that shows in the music which is a mix of the pastoral and the urban and came together when one track ‘Mutant ’sparked the idea to start a new full length. After that, he laid down all of the reeling emotions he felt during the difficult pandemic year, from optimistic to dejected, uncertain to more confident.
This means Taum is more of a rollercoaster than you would expect from this always considered artist. There are still classic Recondite tracks to be heard – mediative lullaby ‘Qualm’ has melancholic melodies, soft acid and hypnotic drums casting a gloomy but alluring spell, and the title track ‘Taum’ has a delicate acid line weaving its way through the smooth grooves and pensive chords. But there are also plenty of more edgy, darker beats. ‘Detach,’ for example, hints at Recondite’s lifelong love of hip hop, grime and trap with its cold, crisp beats and icy hits.
Elsewhere, ‘Naif’ is built on stern, swaggering drums that instill real confidence as you listen. ‘Flight Thru’ is more suspenseful, the spacious drums and edgy chords keep you guessing before ‘Sweet Pain’ is a call to action, a physical track to get you back on your feet. In ‘Elation’ you can just about make out the sound of sneakers squeaking on a basketball court. They are found sound recordings taken during escapist moments of r&r with his coach. On ‘Resilient,’ you can hear the sound of a train pulling away into the distance. They were recorded next to Recondite’s apartment in Berlin as the carriages leave the city and head into nature and are his way of infusing the track with a sense of hope. That sense of hope is also what defines the closing track, which is intended to send listeners off into the future with a more certain feeling that the good times will return.
The title is a portmanteau formed by combining the German words ‘Traum’, which means dream, and ‘taumel’, meaning stumble. For Recondite, they perfectly sum up his ever-changing mental state during the pandemic and the writing of this record. The track titles are just as representative, and the album art also has meaning: it is an unintentional pocket picture taken on an iPhone. Its imperfect lo-fi aesthetic, sense of a new dawn and hopeful rays of light perfectly capture the essence of this album.
Taum is another hugely personal album from Recondite, but one that finds him taking his signature sounds further than ever before.
You can pick up a copy HERE
