Hauschka What If City Slang Records

Experimental producer Hauschka’s eighth studio album is his most confident and impressive work to date. The Golden Globe and BAFTA nominated artist, Düsseldorf’s Volker Bertelmann, embraces chaos and disorder on What If, letting elements of noise and electronic music run wild on the album. This wildness is conjured, in part, by the composer’s use of automated player pianos, a move which enables him to play with unusual speeds and approaches. Added to this he also used classic synths and harmonisers on the record, building a densely textured sound.

The LP is abstract, experimental and improvisational in tone, yet wholly accessible and coherent, and represents Bertelmann at his distinctive and diverse best. Drifting between haunting melodies, frenetic buzz, futuristic FX, serene ambience, minimalism, vintage sci-fi and robust rhythms, the album is as expansive as it is expressive. Inventive and addictively offbeat,

What If is an ambitious exploration of contemporary piano music that delights and reinvents the genre with every unexpected turn. Tom Jones ADD THESE TO YOUR PLAYLIST: My Kids Live On Mars, Familiar| Things Disappear, Trees Only| Exist In Books| 8/10