On August 4, 2007,
Klaus Schulze celebrated his 60th birthday. Most electronica providers of 2007 and 2008 were not as old as
Schulze, but then,
Schulze is someone who -- like
Brian Eno and
Kraftwerk -- was using synthesizers before they were truly in vogue and before many of today's electronica artists were even born. Thankfully,
Schulze hasn't run out of ideas after all these years, and on Farscape, he fulfills a longtime ambition: collaborating with Australian singer
Lisa Gerrard (of
Dead Can Dance fame). This two-CD set is best described as an extended piece that lasts 153 minutes; that piece, which is titled "Liquid Coincidence," is broken down into seven parts.
Schulze handles the electronic programming on this 2008 release, while
Gerrard provides all of the vocals -- and all seven parts of "Liquid Coincidence" have a floating, airy, atmospheric quality. Some listeners might find "Liquid Coincidence" to be overly repetitive and argue that the piece drags on too long, but to complain that "Liquid Coincidence" is repetitious sort of misses the point. Farscape is not about showing
Schulze's diversity; it is about mood, atmosphere, and ambience.
Schulze is going for musical hypnosis, and
Gerrard's haunting performances help him to achieve that. Yes, "Liquid Coincidence" is repetitive; it was meant to be, and it is repetitive in a good way. Together,
Schulze and
Gerrard create a hauntingly attractive mood, and the fact that they maintain that mood for 153 minutes is a plus rather than a minus. That said, Farscape is not among
Schulze's essential albums, and
Gerrard's performances don't quite rise to the level of her best work with
Dead Can Dance. But all things considered,
Schulze and
Gerrard's collaboration is an appealing, if predictable, success. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
