Goodbye - Ulrich Schnauss

Goodbye

Ulrich Schnauss
Domino Records.

SCQ Rating: 71%

For Schnauss, who has long possessed a trademarked sound of combining electronic atmospheres with his shoegaze affinity, a recording technique can stretch over songs at a time without wearing the German-born artist down. His insistence on turning the same trick, though certainly to blame for some homogenous moments, has resulted in a beautifully varied catalogue that no one would mistake for anyone but Schnauss; the breakbeat-crazed summer days of Far Away Trains Passing By, the more expansive palette that perfected his electronic-pop confections on A Strangely Isolated Place, and with Goodbye, Schnauss has given three distinctly different sides of his sound over as many albums. Representing the most adventurous of his recorded work, Goodbye also displays the weight of Ulrich’s excessive tendencies and falters under the burden.

Looking back at the first two albums, Goodbye seems like the inevitable climax to close a trilogy that, release by release, became increasingly rock-driven. The confidence accumulated between Faraway Trains… and A Strangely Isolated Place is obscene, and Schnauss’s growing comfort in his songwriting and reliance on collaborations brought him to this blockbuster; more layers, more noise, more structure, more vocals. As one of many who adore the subtle glisten of A Strangely Isolated Place, I can’t help but focus on these apparent upgrades. The songs that Ulrich boasts were constructed from over one hundred different recording layers are easy to spot, not only because they represent the bulk of Goodbye, they’re also the tracks that sound strangely one dimensional. ‘A Song About Hope’ is especially difficult to find; its backbone buried under so many layers that you’d almost think Schnauss is trying to hide something.

As talented as Schnauss is, some of these multi-layered songs benefit from their weight. The title track flips between the excitement and loneliness of indefinite farewells, while ‘Stars’ was made for humid nights and highway drives; a perfect culmination of new technique and old shoegaze songcraft. Even the tracks that initially feel too light, despite such heavy production, catch on with repeated listens, giving ‘Never Be the Same’ its otherworldly feel.

Hand in hand with the cover art’s ominous night-scene, Goodbye seems destined to be an audio companion to late night traveling. The result of three years in production, Schnauss has cast heavy shadows that often overwhelm his ear-friendly compositions, and at its heaviest, reduces some good ideas to sonic wallpaper.