''Sowiesoso'' (from german: sowieso, translation=anyway) is the fourth studio album by German

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electro ...

band

Cluster may refer to: Science and technology Astronomy * Cluster (spacecraft), constellation of four European Space Agency spacecraft * Asteroid cluster, a small asteroid family * Cluster II (spacecraft), a European Space Agency mission to study th ...

, released in 1976. It was Cluster's first release for Sky Records. ''Sowiesoso'' was recorded in just two days in Forst, Germany in 1976 and mixed at Conny's Studio in

Wolperath Wolperath is the third largest urban subdivision (''Ortsteil'') of the Neunkirchen-Seelscheid municipality in North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhein-Sieg, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central E ...

Background

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop a ...

had worked with

Dieter Moebius Dieter Moebius (16 January 1944 – 20 July 2015) was a Swiss-born German electronic musician and composer, best known as a member of the influential krautrock bands Cluster and Harmonia. Moebius was studying art at Berlin's Akademie Grafik and ...

and

Hans-Joachim Roedelius Hans-Joachim Roedelius (born 26 October 1934) is a German electronic musician and composer, best known as a co-founder of the influential 'kosmische' groups Cluster and Harmonia. He also performed in the ambient jazz trio Aquarello, and relea ...

with

Harmonia In Greek mythology, Harmonia (; grc, Ἁρμονία / harmoˈnia/, "harmony", "agreement") is the immortal goddess of harmony and concord. Her Roman counterpart is Concordia. Her Greek opposite is Eris, whose Roman counterpart is Discordi ...

prior to the recording of ''Sowiesoso'' and worked with Cluster again on two albums in 1977 and 1978. The influence of the British ambient musician is clearly heard on the softer and more controlled sound of ''Sowiesoso''. Reviewer Russ Curry describes the album as "a fully realized marriage of

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

sounds with a pastoral warmth." Kevin Warwick of the ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by ...

'' noted that the album's focus on "ambient electronic soundscapes" represented a divergence from the "

motorik Motorik is the 4/4 beat often used by, and heavily associated with, krautrock bands. Coined by music journalists, the term is German for " motor skill". The motorik beat was pioneered by Jaki Liebezeit, drummer with German experimental rock ba ...

grooves" explored by Cluster's

krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in West Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electronic music, ...

contemporaries.

Release

''Sowiesoso'' was Cluster's first release for the label Sky Records. Sky would serve as Cluster's label until 1986, by which time the label had released albums recorded by the band with Brian Eno, solo recordings, and three albums by the duo of Moebius and former Cluster member and frequent engineer and producer

Conny Plank Konrad "Conny" Plank (3 May 1940 – 5 December 1987) was a German record producer and musician. He is known for his innovative work as a sound engineer and producer in Germany's krautrock and kosmische music scene in the 1970s. Plank was invol ...

. The album was first reissued on CD by Sky Records in 1992. It has also been reissued by the American label

Gyroscope A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rot ...

in 1996, the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

-based Water label in 2006 and the Japanese label

Captain Trip Records Captain Trip Records is a Japanese music label founded and run by musician Ken Matsutani. The label specializes in experimental music and various subgenres of rock, particularly psychedelic rock and progressive rock. In addition to the publication ...

in 2007.

Reception

Julian Cope Julian David Cope (born 21 October 1957) is an English musician and author. He was the singer and songwriter in Liverpool post-punk band the Teardrop Explodes and has followed a solo career since 1983 in addition to working on musical side pro ...

included ''Sowiesoso'' in his "Krautrock Top 50" list. For ''

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quietu ...

'', Euan Andrews called the album "an electronic suite to pastoral living ..which remains unparalleled in its depiction of another blissful green world. Synthetic birds chirrup, bells chime and life is easy and good."

Track listing

All songs written by

and

. ;Side one #"Sowiesoso" – 8:10 (on most CD reissues this track is shortened with a running time of 7:17) #"Halwa" – 2:47 #"Dem Wanderer" – 3:47 #"Umleitung" – 3:25 ;Side two #"Zum Wohl" – 6:50 #"Es War Einmal" – 5:25 #"In Ewigkeit" – 7:10

Personnel

– keyboards, percussion, vocals *

- producer

Background

Release

Reception

Track listing

Personnel

References

Further reading