Phantom Horse — Mehr Null
VINYL LP + DIGITAL
CATALOG UR129 — Released December 2020
Produced by Niklas Dommaschk & Ulf Schütte. Recorded between 2018 and 2020 in Hamburg, Berlin and Nijmegen. Percussions on Constellations of Mabu by Manuel Chittka. Mastered by Jürgen De Blonde at allthingssound, Gen. Artwork & Photos by Daniel Castrejón.
TRACKLIST / 42 minutes
01 Mynah Bird Sounds
02 Owl
03 Nachtwinkel
04 Mehr Null
05 Common Magic
06 Constellations of Mabu
VINYL LP WITH INSTANT DOWNLOAD @ ANOST
BUY DIGITAL FORMATS @ BANDCAMP
BUY DIGITAL FORMATS @ BANDCAMP
Mehr Null translates to More Zero. The title of Phantom Horse’s third
record for Umor Rex could either be seen as a request (to the listener?
to the sound engineer?) to expect or to do or to imagine less; or just as the
description of a state.
The
Hamburg / Nijmegen based duo of Ulf Schuette and Niklas Dommaschkis indeed moving nearer to zero: the arrangements are less illuminated; there’s
a significant nod to JD Emmanuel’s working class vision of minimalism.
Hitherto walking in the kraut tradition (but moving away more and more),
Phantom Horse heads toward the synth swamps where the old-fashioned shamanic
disco is not yet abandoned. From the light green melancholy of “Owl” to the
unexpected playfulness of the title track, the duo has obviously worked hard on
leaving things out. Still, there’s light-footed magic like in “Common Magic”,
the background music for a comet rain coming into your world. You can find
hints to the lower-key film scores by Tangerine Dream, but Phantom
Horse’s approach fits more into a factory building where sad robots are working
their night shifts on a sea horse machine. It’s the perfect soundtrack to the
non hungover day after.
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