Cluster II album cover
Cluster II

Cluster

1972
Brain

Even though he is no longer considered a part of the group by the time of this album, Conny Plank is listed and credited as composer and producer. We still can’t call this a synth album because Roedelius and Moebius are using a variety of electronic tools, and they don’t often let arpeggiators and sequencers do their thing. They lay hands on keyboards and guitars and knobs and stick with the music. A masterful sense of space and silence blooms on this album. Some of this is just Moebius tapping on a guitar and sending it through echo but he is able to make the result feel like ice dripping in a harboring cave. Some of the sounds here are so doomy, like bits of Sabbath hacked up and run through a small oven. The organ! Cluster II feels simultaneously ancient and modern, even in 2022. Moebius is so crisp with his little guitar figures! A rich socket of sound.

Sasha Frere-Jones

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