Harmonia, QEH

harmonia

Everyone raves about Neu! but I’ve always had a personal preference for Harmonia’s wistful, sunshine-hazy beauty. I’d wager expectations were high for this reunion. Despite being very tired, I wasn’t disappointed. Tim even found it transcendent, Is quite enjoyed it I think. I’d seen Michael Rother perform with Dieter Moebius at the ICA the year before last, but this date was different. Centre stage stood Roedius, white-shirted, a little portly, shaven-headed and ever so tall. Particularly alongside the diminutive Moebius. And Rother, how the hell is he so handsome and well-preserved? I suspect a Dorian Gray-like portrait in the attic myself.

The music was a fascinating mix of ambient pieces and percussive rhythm-based tracks. The former outnumbered the latter something like two to one to the frustration, I think, of a small section of the crowd. Someone shouted ‘turn it up’ at one point causing Roedelius to turn from his red keyboard and grin at the audience. I was struck by how rigorous the ambient pieces were. No noodling, instead swathes of sonic resonance, a sense of quiet structure and unfolding narrative balanced with a sense of the becalmed. Hmm.

The screen behind the trio displayed an occasionally enjoyable visuals whose greatest impact was generated by a slow revealing and tracking over of photographs taken of the group at the time of recording of their two seminal albums. They encored once with DeLuxe’s opening track, Immer Wieder and played its gorgeous, statuesque melody for all it was worth. Immer Wieder translates appropriately as ‘always again’.

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Published:
20.04.08 / 9pm
Category:
music