Kreidler - Schemes *Pre-Order

On their ninth album for Bureau B, the internationally renowned Berlin/Düsseldorf-based outfit Kreidler focus on atmospheric soundscapes – of course maintaining their signature rhythmic groove, which on „Schemes“ is simply more buoyant and less insistent. Schemes is also characterised by the more pronounced use of nature/outdoor recordings. The track featuring Leo Garcia as a guest vocalist is based on just such a field recording.

With „Schemes“, Kreidler step into a more ambient space of possibilities, crafting an album that feels both carefully considered and delightfully unguarded.

From the first moments, „Schemes“ signals a shift in tactics. Where other Kreidler recordings often move with propellent insistence, here motion feels lighter on its feet. Rhythms skip rather than stride. Synth lines meander, overlap, or gently collide. The music seems less determined to arrive somewhere; more curious to discover new places along the way.

The title hints at design, but the album delights in unravelling rigidity. If a scheme is a plan, here it is a starting point rather than a set of orders. Structures are sketched lightly, leaving an ample margin for chance. The effect is playful without being restless. There is a subtle humour running through „Schemes“. Less in the form of overt gestures, but in the mischief of its arrangements.

The trio of Thomas Klein (percussion, drums, found sounds), Alexander Paulick (fretless bass guitar) and Andreas Reihse (synthesisers, electronics, field recordings) set up in Berlin for the sessions – initially at Morphine Raum on the sideline of public performances. But the bulk of the recording took place more privately, at andereBaustelle. Here the group made good use of various instruments and objects discovered onsite – most notably a gigantic cuboid steel oil tank. Schemes reflects this spontaneity, with the impulses developed primarily in situ.

Much of the album’s quality comes from the band’s embrace of ambient space. The result is music that feels generous rather than dense. Yet the ambient character of „Schemes“ does not imply stasis. There is movement everywhere, but it is subtle and multidirectional. Even at its most stoic moments, it never feels solemn. „Schemes“ reflects intentionality that is embedded in the fluidity of the music. It is heard in the balance of timbres and in the way disparate elements coexist. Precision remains, but here it is relaxed.

The plurality of the title is suggesting multiple approaches and various possibilities coexisting. Each composition proposes its own internal logic, its own small world. Some tracks hover in near-weightlessness, built from slowly shifting textures and delicate fragments. Others introduce a more defined rhythmic undercurrent, though even here the emphasis is on bounce rather than drive. The result is a record that shimmers with curiosity, balancing intention with improvisation, and finding joy in the disciplines of folding and unfolding.

The songs on „Schemes“ are like beads hanging on a string. Each one distinct, yet connected. Swinging in a warm breeze. Catching the light from different angles. And so we begin: „Beads“, with a funky stabby synth drives the song, which nonetheless maintains a hazy ambivalence. „Klove Twin“ begins with tiny bells emanating some foggy substance intoxicating the band into a mid tempo shuffle with some brash brush strokes. Scrap Metal might be the genre. „Snowflakes“ are enjoying a summer dance, layers of synth melodies intertwined. No one melts here. „Bellboy“. Something is slightly off with this ace. The suit suits them, indeed, but I’ve heard rumours. „The distance between you“ is a dreamy love song of sorts, slightly melancholic, a longing going round in a ritornello like the protagonists do in L'Année dernière à Marienbad. „Looming Large“ is simply looming large, like a caterpillar on an upward spiral, based on a rhythmic sequence the other instruments care about only occasionally. „Marble Upset“ plays with our memory, activating recollections of present past, a slowed down rave, faint images, glimpses and gasps. „Via de me“, big city, nocturnal lights, an ambient pop take. It may be really quiet, still there are better things to do than to sleep. Leading to „Fenix“: Leo Garcia just happened to be in Berlin for a concert. The old friend from Buenos Aires built his euphoric vocal melody
impromptu over a noisy urban field recording. The bird rising up out of the ashes, fighting the miseries, towards the light. It is a protest song of the unusual kind.The home stretch is „Tar“, where some cicadas continue in a similar spirit, tiny animals having a night on the tiles. The smell of tar in the sun, soft and deep black, in sharp contrast with the background of gently curved hills, pastel-coloured, asking what it takes to live peacefully together.

The cover artwork by Luzie Meyer mirrors this spirit: A dialogue of sorts, on a string, a psychoanalytic dance. Ideas clash, yet disputes are solved amicably.

Tracklisting:
A1 Beads
A2 Klove Twin
A3 Snowflakes
A4 Bellboy
A5 The distance between you
B1 Looming Large
B2 Marble Upset
B3 Via da me
B4 Fenix [with Leo Garcia]
B5 Tar