The seventh album from German composer and musician Wolfgang Voigt's GAS alias is an ambitious listen that is both hypnotically beautiful and frantically unsettling. Der Lange Marsch is one (presumably final) walk through the shrouded woods, soundtracking a richly gorgeous and often dizzyingly stirring trip.
German composer and musician Wolfgang Voigt has been making electronic music for decades. Although having released music under at least 30 different aliases (which is absolutely insane to me how anyone can keep track of all of them), his most iconic and widely celebrated work is under the GAS moniker. Having released music under GAS since the 90's, Voigt's work has a very unique and original take on ambient music. It's quite difficult for me to describe his music (and ambient music in general), so I'll try my best here. The overall sound of these instrumentals generally feature a continuous mix of drone, atmospheric synths, samples of nature, crackling of vinyl, strings, and most notably a kick drum beat that continues to pound steadily throughout mostly the entire record. Each album's parts vary often shifting tone and pace with the layers of instrumentation at a very gradual, patient pace. The overall listening experience can be dreamlike, euphoric, and otherworldly. After his most celebrated release Pop in 2000, Voigt remained silent with the GAS moniker and went on hiatus until Narkopop, an opposing response to Pop, was released 17 years later. We've also seen another new album titled Rausch a year after. Now we have yet another new album, this time titled Der Lange Marsch, which translates to "The Long March" in German.
Knowing that I've only listened to a couple of records of his at this point (I checked out Pop a couple of years ago), I'm a novice listener. Going into this new album I had a general idea of what to expect. Der Lange Marsch is an ambitious listen that is both hypnotically beautiful and frantically unsettling. It's an uneasy listen that is certainly not for everyone. There are new elements of strings, horns, choir vocals, and percussion I haven't heard on a GAS record yet. According to more experienced listeners (again... not me) Der Lange Marsch is like a collage that's mixing in iconic elements from his previous records and putting them together into a retrospective piece scanning his career. I could definitely see this; in a way it kind of sounds like a seamless greatest hits compilation tethering together all of his favorite sounds he's made under the GAS name. But also it sounds like something new, something exciting too. Maybe to some more experienced listeners this might sound more tried and true to his older material but it sounds like a newly refreshing experience to me.
Like I mentioned earlier, there are some key differences on Der Lange Marsch. Apparently choir vocals which are included in the latter part of the record have never been on a GAS album before. Specifically on tracks "Der Lange Marsch 5," "Der Lange Marsch 6," and "Der Lange Marsch 10," the layers of instrumentation including the driving kick drum, horns, and choir vocals definitely portray an unsettling frenzy of sound that may make your hair raise up. The kick drum beat also resembles that of a marching band drum and gets clearer the longer you listen to the album. It can be nightmarish the way the synths raise up but these parts are definitely a highlight from the album. Some, are a bit more divisive. Like, a lot more divisive actually. There is notably a high pitched beeping or hissing sound placed across the entire album, being played alongside the kick drum beat. Depending on the listener you may either find this unnoticeable, tolerable or completely unbearable. When I first listened to it, I did notice a faint hissing sound but I was able to ignore it once I was a few minutes in. Some people on the other hand can't even listen to this album because of it. Why Voigt decided to place this throughout the entire record I do not know. It didn't effect my listening experience personally but I can totally see why this might effect others negatively.
The final part on the album, "Der Lange Marsch 11," is glorious and shines a light on the beauty of these ambient instrumentals. The synths definitely resemble a ray of light at the end of the tunnel. Another thing to note is the sequencing between each track. If you're streaming this album on a streaming service like Spotify or Apple Music, which you probably are, the ending of each track fades out and the next track abruptly starts right after. It causes an awkward listening experience that kind of messes up the continuation a little bit. I can get past this but I do wish there was a continuous mix of this on streaming services. I know records like Rausch and Narkopop have included exactly that on Spotify, I just wished Der Lange Marsch included one... if I had to be nit picky. Disappointingly this might be Voigt's most divisive album within his career under GAS simply because of his repeating beeping/hissing sound placement. If you can get past that, then you're golden. If you can't, then I'm sorry dude... I don't know what to tell you. This seventh album of Voigt's is rumored to be his last one under the GAS name. If that is the case, Der Lange Marsch is quite a proper sendoff, especially when listening to the final moments of the album. This record beautifully showcases Voigt as a groundbreaking artist and the influential, widely celebrated musician he's garnered within the electronic ambient community. Der Lange Marsch is one (presumably final) walk through the shrouded woods, soundtracking a richly gorgeous and often dizzyingly stirring trip.
My Rating: 8 / 10
Favorite Songs: "Der Lange Marsch 11," "Der Lange Marsch 5," "Der Lange Marsch 6," "Der Lange Marsch 10," "Der Lange Marsch 2"
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