Phasenmensch - Haunted (The Gentle Indifference of the World) (2019)

To celebrate 10 years of his musical brainchild Phasenmensch, Wolfram Bange graces us with his arguably darkest, and definitely most coherent album yet. „Haunted“ deals with personal demons, anxieties and hopes that determine the individual’s state of being. Musically, this album travels from trademark fragile electronica over different expressions of harshness into an eerie void. Support comes from Phasenmensch associates Ein Profil and Ine-San, who have contributed sounds to one/two tracks respectively. Prepare for a good hour walk alongside the abyss!
Since the 2017 release „Divinity/Unity/Nothingness“ with frequent collaborators ICD-10, Phasenmensch has been busy in his studio to produce his anniversary album. The process was inspired by nihilism and Buddhist philosophy, accompanied by a debilitating process of honest introspection. We can read it in Wolfram’s own words, the considerate thoughts of a full-bred intellectual:
“As the walls inside and around us get thicker, the vibrating echoes of our past become louder and louder, forming a Gordian knot. Being haunted by ourselves we lose track of here and now. We are bound by our fears and confronted with the choice to give in or finally face ourselves. The latter, while being dangerous, leading us to a better self that is driven by an open mind and most of all (self-) acceptance.”
That said, it’s clear that “Haunted” is a true concept album with a clear-cut storyline: The opener “First Flame” sets the melancholic mood; tracks like “Transzendenz” or “The Day before” with their downbeat rhythms and sonic depth make recourse to his fragile 2014 masterpiece “Entschleunigungsprozesse”. Quite soon, things take a more upfront direction, with the techno-flavoured “The process of becoming” or the rhythm’n’noise-structure of “Erase the accumulated past. “A State beyond time” surprises with prominent guitar lines, before “Unscheduled Wandering” pushes open the door into doomed territory. “Discipline and trust” throbs with dark ambience just like the closing title “Assimilation of the devil in ourselves”, and even the quirky rhythms of “A black sky” surely can’t chase away the clouds anymore.
Delivered with confidence, every sound and every sample on-spot, “Haunted” shows Phasenmensch in excellent shape, a producer with his own handwriting and vision!