Lightwave sind die französischen Elektroniker Christoph Harbonnier und Christian Wittmann. Die zwei langen Tracks (23 und 32 Minuten) sind in der Nacht vom 14. auf den 15. Mai 1989 unter Quasi-Livebedingungen im Studio eingespielt worden. Vom alten Modularsynthesizer bis zum Sampler ist alle denkbare damalige Elektronik vertreten. Das Booklet tut so, als sei die Musik mehr oder weniger improvisiert, aber das darf man bezweifeln – dafür sind mir die Stücke und besonders die Klangverläufe einfach zu ausgeklügelt. Das ruhigere „Nachtmusik“ macht den Anfang: Sanfte, scheinbar rhythmuslose Klangwolken, die herein- und vorüberschweben, sich dabei unentwegt verändern, als habe es damals schon den Morphingeffekt gegeben. Das muss sehr genau vorbereitet gewesen sein. Unweigerlich fühlt man sich atmosphärisch an „Plas“, das Auftaktstück des zweiten Cluster-Albums, erinnert, aber in „Nachtmusik“ sind die Klänge fließender und weniger harsch. Das zweite Stück, „Just Another Dream“, ist kantiger. Klare Rhythmen gibt es auch hier nicht, aber die Klänge sind härter, metallischer, fordernder; gelegentlich grüßt Meister Stockhausens „Kontakte“ aus der Ferne. Manchmal hat man das Gefühl, das Stück stehe kurz vor dem Stillstand, aber es geht weiter, zum Teil mit starken Dynamiksprüngen.
This record is already 25 years old. If memory serves, I wrote a press release in 1990 for the release of the CD, but I didn't find it very sensational, and so it lived in my shelves since then, unheard and forgotten. Just by chance I rediscovered the record now, and I have to apologize. The record is much better then I remembered.
Lightwave are the French electronics Christoph Harbonnier and Christian Wittmann. The two long tracks (23 and 32 minutes) were recorded under quasi-live circumstances in a studio in the night from May 14 to 15, 1989. Every imaginable kind of electronic of that time is involved, an old modular synthesizer as well as a sampler. The booklet gives the suggestion that the music is more or less improvised, but I doubt this -- the tracks and especially the progression of sounds are too well-thought-out to be improvised. The record starts with the quiet "Nachtmusik": Soft, apparently rhythmless sound clouds come in and float away, permanently changing, as if there had been the morphing effect already at that time. They must have prepared this very carefully. The track reminds to "Plas" from the Cluster II album, but the sounds are more fluid and less harsh here. The second track, "Just Another Dream", is a bit more edgy. Also here are no recognizable rhythms, but the sounds are harder, more metallic, more demanding; sometimes Master Stockhausen's "Kontakte" seems to greet from far. From time to time the track seems on the way to stop, but it goes on, sometimes with high dynamics.
Lightwave recorded a couple more albums later, the last one apparently in 2004, but I don't know any of them. One reason to release this one was the fact that the mix was done by Michel Geiss, which gave Erdenklang head Ulrich Rützel the chance to get into touch with the team around Jean Michel Jarre. But the CD also fitted perfectly into the then label concept. This CD would be becoming for a lot of today's laptop musicians, and I'm sure I will give it a spin more often from now on.
(The German version of this review was first published on Manafonistas.)
