Perrache - Blubberwasser

A Closer Listen

While the Ceremony of Seasons series is paired with bottles of wine, Perrache‘s Blubberwasser begs to be paired with steins of beer or any sparkling beverage. The German title refers to effervescing drinks, many of which we suspect will be imbibed in this long, hot, climate change summer.

The vinyl edition, from Taping Desk-O Phon mania, is a wonder.  As the disc is round, the viewer seems to be looking right into the glass from both top and bottom.  While there’s great beauty in paint-splattered vinyl, it’s nice to have something different; and this affects one’s appreciation of the music as well.  Fortunately the music, which begins in ambient style but creeps pleasantly toward drone, is similarly engaging: one might even say sparkling.  Ironically, the vinyl was inspired by the cassette image on Anticipating Nowhere Records.

Arpeggiator (Moog) and Space Echo are the chemicals used in these compositions.  At the start, the synthesized music bubbles and flows, like an 80s film score.  Imitation strings further the cinematic impression.  The first five tracks are iterations of the title and the sixth a French expression that Google translates as “Hunting.”  But it’s not enough to watch the bubbles cling to the outside of the glass, rise to the top, fizzle and pop; one desires action.  The first major shift arrives in “Blubberwasser 1,” as an abstract loop swims to the surface, dissipates in a flourish, then gathers its strength for another approach.

From this point forward, the album flirts with club sensibilities without toppling over.  It’s easy to imagine a steady beat through “Blubberwasser 2,” the track fleshed out with pointillist notes and harmonic washes.  As the elements retreat in the center, the steadiness of the drone is emphasized; when the volume surges, the effect is akin to the overflowing head of a quickly poured lager.  The composition’s chemicals change as the piece unfolds, honoring their inspiration.  In the closing seconds, the timbre shifts briefly to dark ambient before another bright track begins, imitating the lonesome gap between finishing one beer and getting another on a busy pub night.

“Blubberwasser 5,” “4” and “3” appear in reverse order, like a countdown.  At some point, all of the bubbles will escape from the bottom of the glass.  The album will run out; the bartender will shout “last call” and the revelers will return home.  In the meantime, the music battles the clock, focusing instead of a sense of flow.  “4” experiments with chime tones, as if the bells have escaped from the belfries and landed in the glasses of patrons, eliminating time markers.  A person, like a beverage, can feel effervescent, lighter than air.  When the track turns to organ timbres, the association with cathedrals is cemented; to many a bar is like a cathedral, only with better liquids.

This being said, Blubberwasser is not bar music; these compositions seek to capture a feeling rather than soundtrack an event.  The title’s most basic translation is bubble water, which makes one think not only of healing tonics, but of mineral springs, especially those of Selters, Germany, whose name inspired seltzer water.  The record has been injected with photographic images and the music with influences from multiple genres in hopes that a pleasing chemical reaction may be produced in the listener as well.  (Richard Allen)