ROUTE 1 – is the title of Roland Schappert’s first LP, which is also available as a download. Divided into six pieces, all of which were created in the period from June to October 2021, Roland expresses a long-standing musical practice that is characterised by a very diverse range of sound influences and conceptions. At first glance, the careful creation of independent electronic sounds seems like a product that plays around possible current expectations.

However, ROUTE 1 not only contains aspects that use the full range of technical possibilities for sound production and leave them in the abstract mode, but is also enriched with field recordings and interspersed linguistic passages. Roland Schappert lets sparingly lyrical settings emerge virtually out of nowhere, all modulated with his own voice. It is a completely individual imagery that is inherent in all the tracks and that radiates a pleasant emotional warmth.

The titles of the pieces refer to places where Roland Schappert found himself in the year they were written. ROUTE 1 is also an exemplary foray through five decades of electronic music history ¬– from its pop-cultural synthesiser implications to the current state of digital sound techniques. A personal and a historical route that points the listener on his or her own path with fine electronic sound inventions in a highly emotional way.

St. Helena

Footsteps in a landscape. Breathing sounds. Siren-like echo from afar. A resonant poem. Winds from the forest, electronic responses from the studio. Steep setting, short breath. Nature-like tableau.
Joachim Ody, 01/14/2022

Taunus

Faraway frequencies pull long electronic sounds like strings. Melodic fragments join them from the opposite direction. A fragile rhythm brushes along a railing. Is washed away by rain.
Roland Schappert, 01/08/2022

Rings

Opaque hustle and bustle, simulating an urban atmosphere. Field recordings – city recordings in fact – street traffic noises, sirens. A waiter speaks. Shielded from this in inner seclusion, a lonesome player plays repetitive melodic figures, lost in thought, before the window to the outside world is opened again and everything flows into a moving scenario full of abstraction beyond the clearly definable.
Joachim Ody, 01/14/2022

Val d'Ultimo

An extremely calming walk, full of hallmarks of dreamy elements of sound. Floral nature sings electronically. Overjoyed feelings arise and animate longings that one would like to pursue in this real or imagined landscape. The listener’s imagination takes over.
Joachim Ody, 01/14/2022

Engelbertstrasse

A tonal compendium covering all the instances of the domestic environment one is exposed to on a daily basis. Outside it is raining. Emerging into these surroundings are lyrical moments that merge with the state of outside until a unity has formed that is unlike any other. Our gazes dissolve the shadows / beam them away . / your kisses taste on the inside / Words melt / like sunlight on ice.
Joachim Ody, 01/14/2022

Baltrum

A synthetic landing. I’m lying arm in arm with myself. City of Tomorrow and memory of the Wavestation. MS 20 and a vanished ocean. Waves drifting down, no longer breaking. The quotations are fictitious … horizon … it becomes cheerful. A melody sequence on a sharpened electric piano spirals upwards in ever evolving circles.
Roland Schappert, 01/08/2022

Created, performed, mixed, artwork, lyrics
and cover photographs by Roland Schappert
Mastered by Robert Feuchtl at bobhumid.de
Design by Monika Neumann at motho-design.com
Produced by Michael Heiber at neophon.de
Thank you Joachim Ody
Limited edition 100
2022
Download link: r-records.com/download
Download code: d57b436xxx
Distribution by a-musik.com
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www.r-records.com