''Sowiesoso'' (from ) is the fourth studio album by German

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

band Cluster, released in 1976. It was Cluster's first release for

Sky Records Sky Records was an independent record label specializing in krautrock/Kosmische Musik and electronic music. They were based in Hamburg, Germany. Some of their releases could be classified as progressive rock or art rock, experimental music, indust ...

. ''Sowiesoso'' was recorded in just two days in Forst,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in 1976 and mixed at Conny's Studio in Wolperath.

Background

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

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. Career Moebius was studying art at Berlin's Akademie Gr ...

and

Hans-Joachim Roedelius Hans-Joachim Roedelius (born 26 October 1934) is a German electronic music, electronic musician and composer, known as a co-founder of the influential 'kosmische musik, kosmische' groups Cluster (band), Cluster and Harmonia (band), Harmonia. He ...

with

Harmonia In Greek mythology, Harmonia (; /Ancient Greek phonology, harmoˈnia/, "harmony", "agreement") is the goddess of harmony and concord. Her Greek opposite is Eris (mythology), Eris and her Roman mythology, Roman counterpart is Concordia (mythol ...

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

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

'' 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 b ...

grooves" explored by Cluster's

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

contemporaries.

Release

''Sowiesoso'' was Cluster's first release for the label

. 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 involv ...

. 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 (geometry), orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in ...

in 1996, the

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

-based Water label in 2006 and the Japanese label Captain Trip Records 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 proj ...

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