Strom

Martin Kohlstedt's third studio album is a synopsis of development as well as a glimpse into the future. Martin Kohlstedt's opus Strom is a stream of ruthless moments exposing the piano to the elements. Amid the flow of the nine pieces, the composer slowly dissipates and enables the experience of music in it's most primal dynamic. One witnesses the transformation of closeness and intimacy into vastness and force and that there is beauty to be found in everything, especially in the ephemeral. Consequently, Strom brings forth manifold forms of itself, appearing hazy and perilous, in the next instant direct, almost playful to ultimately appear awestruck in the face of it's own gravity. No distinct answers have been thought of, no measures taken, no interpretation preconceived for Strom. Instead you get the feeling that with Strom, Martin Kohlstedt erected a monument in honor of intuition itself - even though immutable monuments are not his specialty, quite the contrary. The native Thuringian is known above all for the energy and the unpredictability of his concerts. After two albums featuring just him and the piano, he dropped the deeply ingrained patterns and connections to the instrument alone and developed a new naturalness of playing electronic instruments and effects, as if they were another couple of keys on the keyboard. Strom is Martin Kohlstedt's third studio album and in this a synopsis of this development as well as a glimpse into the future: Before he comes in contact with the audience he comes in close contact with himself - without any acting or pretending. Sound and structure thereof stand back behind the wish to reach faraway places through the music. By listening closely you follow him - and his hands that do all the work, meticulously and maniacally at once but still solely with himself after all, just like at his concerts.