Wooden Peak

Label: Analogsoul
Released: May 2011

Whilst the main focus of this blog is jazz, and the Japanese jazz scene in particular, there are occasional posts related to other types of music, and this album certainly falls into that category. Wooden Peak are the German duo featuring Jonas Wolter (acoustic guitar, foot organ and vocals) and Sebastian Bode (drums, electronics and vocals), and Lumen is their sophomore release and their first on Analogsoul, the label that brought us the post-rock/jazz sound of Trio Schmetterling last year. Their music blends various diverse influences including folk, electronic and krautrock forming a fairly original and rich sound.

The minimalist instrumentation and the whispery vocals gives the whole album a very intimate feel, and the band gradually draw you into their mystical world of raining elephants, your own time zones, king-sized shoes and biscuit kings. "Why these elephants?/ And why just everyone yelling?" they sing on Tinker, and while you could get caught up in thought trying to work an answer, you'd run the risk of missing the wonderfully haunting music that accompanies these lyrics. In fact the whole middle section of the album (Baumkronenherrscherin, Lumen, Tinker and Sense of Humus) is absolutely magical and is something to come back to again and again

Lumen is a highly accomplished album of folk-tinged music for the modern age. Anyone who enjoyed Thief's Sunchild or the Secret Love series of compilations that were put out on Sonar Kollektiv a few years back will find much to like on Wooden Peak's latest release which is a natural development of that sound. - Tokyo Jazz Notes

Anyone who's ever heard 'Dear Prudence' (and that's pretty much everyone, right?) knows the ethereal warmth that arpeggiation can lend to a tune. It's not the only trick used to conjure variety out of this album's central acoustic guitar lines, but it's a memorable one. However, inbetween lush exemplars, such as 'Skin & Bones' and album highlight 'Shark Song,' there is also some rather lightweight strumming. Generally workmanlike offerings such as 'Montagsmarchen' and the occasionally jazzy 'Von Drau?n' are, whilst technically proficient, the sort you might hear in the back room of a folkie boozer without making you think you'd unearthed the next Nick Drake or John Martyn.

What makes most of the tunes stand out, however, is the imagination of the arrangements. The keys, for instance, sound like they'd really rather have been a brass section. (If it weren't for the lack of any mention amongst the credits, I could easily have believed there to be the odd trumpet in the mix.) In addition we have swirling organs and a wide variety of percussive techniques. There are far more than mere drums used here for keeping time. And if you can decipher what on earth is scraping and bubbling its way through 'Great Farm' then you've done better than me. It's got more than a hint of Feedle's bedroom electronica about it, and is rather more unexpected in this setting.

The last five tracks all weigh in at 6+ minutes, and it is on offerings of this length that Wooden Peak's inventiveness takes them beyond the usual limitations of arranging for the acoustic guitar. Those brass-sounding keys drive the tunes towards crescendo, and even the world-weary vocal drawl (which elsewhere sounds as if recorded on an answering machine) drags itself to better things, even extending to harmonies on 'Mud Princess.' Occasionally brilliant album-closer 'Glockenneuigkeit' summarizes both the good and the bad as Donovan morphs into Hatfield and the North and back again. This album is unlikely to be a winner with either the purist or the unabashed seeker of the perverse, but it cannot criticised for a paucity of ideas. - Alexander Rennie

Will man umgehen, junge Bands mit alt Bekannten zu vergleichen, um dem Leser einen besseren Eindruck zu geben, so zieht man gern auch mal Vergleiche zu Bildern und Impressionen heran. Und so will ich mich meinen Lieblingssituationen widmen. Hier ist es heiß, die Sonne verschwindet langsam hinter den Baumwipfeln(!) um den Himmelsanbetern zu späterer Stunde einen feuerroten Horizont zu bescheren. Würde es mucksmäuschenstill sein, hörte man die Grillen zirpen.

Doch sie verstummen in Anbetracht dessen, dass dort irgendwo Musik von einer kleinen Bühne erklingt. Im Niemandsland steht sie und um sie herum tummeln sich einige wenige tausend Besucher, auf der Suche nach Musik, die von Herzen kommt. Bereit in die ihrige einzudringen.

Was ich mir hier in meinem Köpfchen zusammendenke ist ein kleines Festival. Hier geht es noch um die Musik und um diejenigen, denen sie mehr bedeutet als der reine Ausverkauf. Und in diesem Bild stehen Wooden Peak auf der Bühne. In der Abendhitze eines ausklingenden Sommertages. Dem feuerroten Horizont die letzte Ehre erweisend.

Die Melancholie schwebt immer mit. “Frog” ist das Debütalbum eines Duos aus Berlin und Rostock. Jonas Wolter und Sebastian Bode schaffen es mit ihrem Sound diese Stimmung selbst im bittersten Winter zu erzeugen. Ihr Mix aus frickelndem Akkustik-Folk und gleichzeitig gefrimeltem Indie ist ein erfolgreiches Experiment, welche einige vor ihnen bereits versucht haben.
Introvertierter, nahezu schüchterner, dunkel verrauchter Gesang trifft auf ein kleines Spektrum von klassischen Musikinstrumenten und Synthies. Sie erinnern teils an aufgenommene Jam Sessions wie im “Montagsmärchen”. Doch hier wird sich nicht um Kopf und Kragen gespielt. Vielmehr genießt man den Moment, den jeder Song bietet. Sie sind aufeinander abgestimmt und doch stehen sie jeder für sich.

“Frog” von Wooden Peak ist nicht perfekt. Zu viel Schaffen, Wissen und Enthusiasmus stecken in diesen kleinen 10 Stücken. Doch kann man zumindest vermuten, was die beiden vorhaben und mit welcher Inbrunst sie dies schaffen werden. Vielleicht an einem Tag im Sommer. - Koksi