Garden Of Stone

At first glance, Garden Of Stone, the inaugural solo record by P. A. Hülsenbeck, seems to ripple serpentine. Scales over flesh topple softly as a snake piles high in the dim. Garden Of Stone is a molt, a shedding of one old thing to reveal something new. But instead of the shirking off of some glistening scaled skin, the record's nine pieces shed the raw human experience and from it's depths rises Hülsenbeck. His voice, like his image on the album cover, is hidden under each piece. He uses it as an instrument that drifts in from somewhere deep, dark, and below. In front, around, above, and underneath swim guitar, synthesizer, koto, saxophone, trumpet, horn, drums, and bass to provide a soft, lush foundation. From somewhere distant, each note carries the scent of pine, forgotten cabins, and damp but breezy oceans. Each piece in this album reminisces of a well-laid plot, they swell to retreat, ebb to flow and just as distortion begins to drift in, swift wind carries the melody away. This music is the outcome of the search for sound, a polyphonic reflection of the music itself. It moves in the darkness and dances in the open; exposed and forever drifting. When after Hülsenbeck's first band Sizarr ceased to exist, the musician radicalized his language under the Doomhound moniker. After one year of touring he shed his electronic hide to reveal something gentle and new. Hülsenbeck's new album dances the way flesh might, whether it be by serpent or some other body. Beginning in Leipzig, P. A. became engulfed in techniques that explore relationships between body and mind through exercises in expressive movement improvisation. In other words, he began to dance. Through those physical techniques, he found the philosophy that from now on determines his approach: turn the inside out without question and give it freely to the outside world. A process in which Hülsenbeck routinely finds himself practicing in the distinctive dreamland of Garden Of Stone. While "Anima", "Säule" and "Vessel" are instrumental, the other six pieces on "Garden Of Stone" tell stories that conjure up a person who blossoms in the ether behind; Hülsenbeck is truly himself. The record was produced by Hülsenbeck with his friend Tim Roth (Drangsal). It was recorded by Joe Haege and Fritz Brückner (White Wine), and also features Johannes Döpping (drums), Johanne Weber (basses), and Max Kraft (horn/trumpet).