An epic re-enchantment anniversary

Ten years. That’s how long Wolfgang Voigt had been working on his “Rückverzauberung” project when this album was released. The title is obviously a German word. It’s long and it’s got dots above the U. It’s an interesting word, though. Rückverzauberung. Not an ordinary one, even for German standards. Not something that anyone would use in any conceivable context other than this project. In a way, it’s a Wolfgang Voigt word.

Its most accurate translation, at least in this context, is re-enchantment. Which looks like a word that could be understood, but escapes approximation as soon as you start thinking about it. Who is enchanted? By what? How did they get disenchanted? Why? The fascination of the word lies in the re- part. We are talking about Rückverzauberung, not Entzauberung, the enchantment is given back.

Enchanted, disenchanted, re-enchanted

The term is is a response to the sociological idea of Entzauberung der Welt (“disenchantment of the world”), famously discussed by Max Weber. Weber argued that modernity, rationalization, and technology strip life of its mystical, magical, or awe-inspiring qualities. Voigt’s project is an artistic attempt to reverse this process, to reintroduce mystery and emotional depth into a world that often feels overly rational or sterile. Thus, re-enchantment.

That’s a concept I can relate to. What I find a little more difficult to relate to are the notes that accompany the album on Bandcamp. Maybe it’s more or less expected to call an album like this “Intoxicating in its Mephistolean dissonances and ambitious sonic structure, the sprawling ‘Rückverzauberung’ itself becomes a nebulous organism shrouded in the seeping mist of the unknown.”

I do think that Mephistolean should really be mephistophelean, but that is just a side note. Personally, I just think it is a little too thick. I mean — this is Wolfgang Voigt, the man is something like a god in the world of ambient already. We can safely assume that the main target group will see the name of the artist, the name of the label, and that’s it. Order button. They probably have spent weeks waiting for the release of it. But maybe they would be disenchanted if they didn’t read something like this.

Dissonances have reasons

It was written with the best of intentions, of course. So we’ll just take it and give it a chance. The ambitious sonic structure. Absolutely, that’s one of the main elements here. In several aspects of what Voigt does throughout this project, he doesn’t make it easy for us. Ambitious it is. And contrary to what a lot of ambient does out there, the layers and structures of what we hear on this part of the re-enchantment journey are not assembled to define some kind of pleasantness or bliss.

Which leads us to the dissonances. Mephistophelean or not, they challenge the listener, force him or her to match Voigt’s ambition in reception. You can’t just sit there and let it add a few sonic colors to your day while you are reading a book or answering emails. Dissonances demand attention. They are there for a purpose and the only way to tap into that purpose is to listen. And if your speakers aren’t top notch, grab some good headphones. You don’t have either, go buy something appropriate.

Sprawling. Yes. Sort of by definition — a) because it’s ambient, sprawling is common, and b) we get sixty minutes of Rückverzauberung — plenty of time to explore the sonic structures and feel our way through those moments of dissonance.

Are you synesthetic?

The part with the nebulous organism and the dripping mist surrounding it is obviously a little more challenging. It’s somewhat misleading if we associate this with the dampening effect mist has on sound — Voigt’s sonic structures are voluminous, grand and looming, they occupy a large space. The metaphor is much more fitting if you imagine it as a visual experience — objects, scenes, imaginations being obscured by mist hanging in the air, drifting slowly, sometimes allowing a vague glimpse of what lies behind.

All throughout this sonic experience the drone layers keep an ominous atmosphere, setting the scene for mostly horn and string based symphonic elements that place the music close to or rather already within the realms of modern classical music. The claim of synesthetic textures that is also part of the promotional statement is not too ambitious here — anyone that would experience sound in combination with a visual impression will have a pretty intense field trip. And even us regular people who simply connect sonic impressions to images, themes and memories are getting a lot of food for our imagination.

A ritual

The conceptual foundation of “Rückverzauberung” is far from nebulous. Voigt has a clear definition how he wants the listener to be re-enchanted. Immersive soundscapes are created to invite contemplative listening. Tracks develop gradually, emphasizing micro-shifts in tone, rhythm, and texture that reward careful attention. There is an interplay of organic and synthetic textures, producing a subtle tension between the artificial and the real, familiar and uncanny. He works with repetition and variation, makes careful use of stereo imaging, reverbs and phasing, again enhancing immersion. What it all more or less boils down to is a somewhat ritualistic experience.

Does “Rückverzauberung Exhibition” re-enchant the listener? It largely depends on whether you want to let it enchant you with all its ambitious sonic layers, its dissonances and its looming and maybe actually slightly mephistophelean spaces. It will need more than one session, and it might just be that the full effect of this can only be grasped completely when experienced in a fittingly large space, live.

Wolfgang Voigt said in an interview that the Rückverzauberung project is his move into “something which in German we call “E-Musik” [ernste Musik], meaning serious music.” It’s a strange differentiation in German as the other part of the music world is called “U-Musik” — Unterhaltungsmusik — translating into music that is made for entertainment (which is, as you can easily deduct, not at all serious music, at least for the traditional German mind).

Yes. This is serious music. Modern classical music shrouded in a mist of Ambient. As ambitious in year ten as it was on day one.

Release for review:
WOLFGANG VOIGT – RÜCKVERZAUBERUNG EXHIBITION – ASTRAL INDUSTRIES – AI-22

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