Ümlaut is the sonic output of Jeff Düngfelder, an experimental composer and sound artist, currently based in rural northern Connecticut, USA. Same But Different, the project’s newest album, is basically the artistic outcome of a recovery surgery, ignited after a meditative and healing process. " />

Ümlaut is the sonic output of Jeff Düngfelder, an experimental composer and sound artist, currently based in rural northern Connecticut, USA. Same But Different, the project’s newest album, is basically the artistic outcome of a recovery surgery, ignited after a meditative and healing process.

The work spreads into ten introverted pieces. By this I mean it doesn’t shout and all elements were injected strategically. Everything blooms up rapidly with the simplicity and the intimacy generating expectation, which gets fulfilled to the fullest extent. The prologue is itself rapid, leaving space for the actual narration that kicks in almost instantly.  

Düngfelder’s music has a certain vintage aesthetic, without being retro. This is essential experimental music in the fields of kraut and satellite sub-genres. The  Kraut sound gets infected by tribal elements, along with eerie, yet progressive electronics, field recording chunks and low-profile ambient with regulated rhythmic beats! Eventually, everything will get ejected back to a pure kraut pathway and so on; in a circular motion. That sums it up. Maybe I’m preoccupied, but what I’m listening is a Tangerine Dream (just an example) and a Brian Eno (just another example) coitus, with holistically solid and multi-disciplined sonic roots. An abstract strolling into Ümlaut’s (and Düngfelder ‘s) very personal perspective. Though Ümlaut is also spectacularly- modern.

A possible question that is being asked is, can something be the same but different? Literally this album is a fusion between delicate contemporary electronic music and an oriental scent. Not something that hasn’t been heard before, but the clarity in the creative backstage, marks it as unique. Question answered with a high dose of sonic serotonin, most probably and most importantly! There’s nothing more to be explained, nothing more to be said but: senses are easily tuned in while listening. Check it out for yourself