Periode

PERIODE is the duo of ANDREAS REIHSE (KREIDLER) and THOMAS WINKLER – yearning and thrilling kraut-esque electronica.

Two people. A Telecaster guitar with a few effect pedals. A drum machine. An audio interface is connected to a laptop. The ingredients are simple yet effective. But any suggestion of four-track cassette machines and vintage bedsit productions is quickly dispelled by digital dubbiness and refined arrangements. A tail of reversed echos. The crystalline flourish of octave-pitched delays. Riddled hi-hats tickle and taunt. A bass drum asserts its space.

Winkler’s guitar patterns have a fragmented, almost haphazard connotation. Searching in a shimmer of reverb. Until the beat, the framework, sets in to reveal structure. On the new album, Winkler further expands his style of playing by subtly honing the distinctive picking technique he originally learned in 1986 from a homeless man under the piers of Brighton — a ghostly imprint that now resurfaces with refined precision.

Reihse’s programmed rhythms go just to the point a groove, holding the moment of tension, knowingly delaying the gratification. Beats that have scratchy patina and often playful sense of kitschiness; their crispness stands in contrast to the contemplative drift of the guitar.

Is it a trance? Or a dance? Yes.