Peter Baumann

CD version. Bureau B present a reissue of Peter Baumann's second solo album Trans Harmonic Nights, originally released in 1979. From 1971 to 1977, Peter Baumann was a member of the legendary Berlin band Tangerine Dream. The group were pioneers of the so called Berliner Schule (Berlin School) which had a profound impact on electronic music. Trans Harmonic Nights sees Baumann continue to break free from the gravitational pull of Tangerine Dream. Hans-Joachim Roedelius was recording the Jardin Au Fou album (BB 023CD/LP) at the same time in his Paragon Studio and some of his carefree positivity seems to have rubbed off on Baumann, judging by the music he came up with. The production phase for Trans Harmonic Nights covered 16 months or thereabouts. Having built the studio and taken care of production on albums for Cluster, Asmus Tietchens, Conrad Schnitzler and Hans-Joachim Roedelius, many of which came out on the French label Egg, he had neither the time nor the inclination to focus on his own compositions. Numerous tracks on the album were actually created at the end of the working day, on downtime, just for fun in the unfinished studio. Peter Baumann explains: "It was a completely different time for music, everything we did was spontaneous, in the moment. My first two records happened when I was working in the studio, simply expressing myself as a musician, sensing which emotions, timbres, rhythms and melodies were closest to me." This approach shines through the music, underpinning its authenticity and making the album such a delight to listen to today: carefree, playful, unbelievably euphoric. Synth lines are exhilaratingly entwined with synthetic plucks, experimental sounds crystallize into sweet melodies, building into ecstatic breaks. Majestic mellotron choirs and added vocoder tones lend an ethereal, surreal touch. It is virtually impossible not to get caught up in this rapture, to be swayed by the infectiously upbeat nature of the music. Not long after releasing this album, Peter Baumann relocated to the USA where he recorded two more albums by the year 1983, dominated by wave and synth pop sounds. In 1984 he founded his own label, Private Music. In the late 1990s he withdrew from the music business altogether, only resurfacing in May 2016 with Machines Of Desire (BB 234CD/LP).