Ümlaut — In The First Wave

Ümlaut is a U.S. electronic project from Queens, New York founded by composer Jeff Düngfelder.  His work appears to be thematically & conceptual focused on the elements of sound and silence, and the random interaction between both. Finding more in the spaces between and expanding on those to help the composition have a more minimalist presentation &  feel.

In the press release for In The First Wave- it says this new album from Umlaut “explores the reciprocity of silence and noise” and well I think that is only half right- as it really does not contain much actual noise, its more like exploring the reciprocity of silence and tones- we have electronic tones & analogue tones-some short & some longer- but all very calm and soothing, and not really very noisy at all( to me). Sometimes the tones move faster, and the composition becomes more anxious. Sometimes the tones are slower, and things become more serene- it’s fair to say the album very much succeeds in taking the listener off of the canvas and into a different mental space.

The overall feel of this album is that of simple classic ambient electronica- very minimal beats along with very simple tones generated in looping fashion to create awesome light techno compositions. For me, it seems that this album has lots of influence from Brian Eno’s minimalist works (like the stuff he does for installations) it also reminded me of some of the more relaxed ambient electronica that Arizona project Not Breathing did in the late ’90s. I had a hard time staying awake to listen to this album. So beware if listening at night. it will lull you into slumber and take you away