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One Step Behind

by Michael Brückner

supported by
anandathah
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Bernard Poulard
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Richard Algar
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mthuene
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/
1.
Slow Noise In C 01:13
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2.
Beehive Godzillas 05:29
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3.
A Late Caress 07:42
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4.
Ghost Nap 02:08
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5.
Low Liquids 01:51
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6.
The Orpheus Hyphenation 02:03
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7.
Short Journey On A Big Road 04:56
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8.
Shinoda 03:13
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9.
Needle 02:48
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10.
Coincidence Blues 05:08
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11.
Paradise 02:25
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12.
(Lost) 03:39
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13.
One Step Behind 05:41
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14.
Hien Tan 04:13
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15.
Aunt Haunt 04:24
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16.
United Choirs Of The Apocalypse 01:20
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17.
Ill Marillo 04:10
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18.
Unknown Land 03:12
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19.
The Beehive (Revisited) 02:15
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20.
One Small Piece 06:07
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21.
Unknown Land (Epilogue) 03:17
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about

ONE STEP BEHIND, recorded in 2005, is one of my most personal albums. And this in spite of the fact that it started as a very cerebral, even abstract experiment that was overtaken midway by real life...

Here's the story:

Some day in 2005, I had the idea to use the "random play" function of most CD players to create a kind of self-generating, "endless" album.
To attain that, I recorded about 75 minutes worth of very short musical and rhythmic fragments, actually several hundred of them - in the hope to endlessly automatically "remix" these by using the random function combined with the loop function.
Of course, these fragments were designed in a way that they would sound cool in any number of combinations (or so I hoped). A LOT of work and time was invested, but...

...when I got to the step to burn these fragments on CD, I found out that (only!) 99 tracks is the upper limit of the audio CD standard.

So, I manually re-arranged those very short fragments to 99 already a bit longer loops (again a lot of work), but...

...when I finally put the idea to a test, it turned out that the time the CD player needed to jump from track to track in random mode was too long to create a seamless musical flow - the idea was nice in theory, but sounded terrible in practice.

However, as I already had invested so many time and effort in the project - and actually thought these loops sounded really cool - I decided to (at least) use the material as a starting point for a "regular" album.

A short time after that, bad news arrived:
My father, who at that point already had been struggling with serious health troubles for a few years, learned that he suffered from skin cancer, already at a rather advanced state. He would pass away about four years later, as a consequence of that...

Already from start, it was quite clear that chances were very small that my father could be cured, and naturally, he and our relationship (which had been rather difficult for most of the years that we shared) were very much on my mind during this time.

This also was reflected in my music, and as a result, this particular album, while I was working on it, shifted away (to some degree) from the "abstract dance style" I first had in mind, and a lot of more thoughtful, introspective, or narrative moments began to weave into the musical fabric. Many of the titles reflect that, and most, of course, the two versions of "Unknown Land" (lyrics see below).

Still, it's not a sad or depressed album; it's rather a kind of musical tale that tells the story of my father - and partly our difficult relationship - in a more symbolic than literal way.
This relationship, by the way, has improved a lot during the last ten years of his life, partly due to the fact that I mellowed towards him in the face of his health problems. Still, I (for example) never played or even mentioned this album to him; this kind of music would have been a place to which he would not have been able to follow...

It can hardly been coincidence, by the way, that this is my 69th album - after all, I was born in 1969 (on the day of the roofing ceremony of our house, which my fahter had built with his won hands).


* * *

Unknown Land (Epilogue)

the hand serves meat
the bones drank blood
in snow hides heat
drought follows flood

the eye sees night
the brain a thought
which tries to hide
as it is thought

the hair grows thin
my skin grows dry
and what goes in
comes out to die

within my head
the late guests wait
to help the dead
to change their fate

and in my chest
an evening star
tries to find rest
before the war

i came from far
i start from here
i wear a scar
i shed a tear

so marches time
from start to end
you lose the dime
within your hand

and you get lost
in unknown land
and you get lost
in unknown land

* * *

There's also a video to one of the tracks...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fuWX8BU0dQ

credits

released May 5, 2005

Michael Brückner: programming, sampling, synthesizers, noises, voices

Cilia di Ponte: vocals on "Slow Noise in C" and "Unknown Land (Epilogue)"

* * *

I dedicate this album to the memory of my father,
Kurt Helmut Manfred Brückner (1941 - 2009)

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about

Michael Brückner image

Michael Brückner Mainz, Germany

Born in Heidelberg, Germany, later settled down near Mainz.

Earns a living as a graphical designer.

Ambient and other electronica since 1992.

Accumulated an extended back catalogue (more than 90 albums by end of 2011, number still growing).

Since 2007 offers his music in the internet, via the usual platforms.

Sometimes gets reviews + airplay.

Very rarely plays live.

More is to come... ... more

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