"Unfortunately, we cannot do a little more..." says (after a fashion) a popular Web-based translation applet if one types
Wir Können Leider Nicht Etwas Mehr Zu Tun.... One cannot be sure whether
Black to Comm's Marc Richter could have done more, but this album, released as a double-LP set, ranks high among 2007's best drone records. Richter handles a fair range of instruments -- from harmophon (which sounds like a harmonium) to computer and found objects -- and does so alone, for the most part. Renate Nikolaus contributes very quiet vocals on one track and guitars on another; the latter piece also features Gregory Büttner on trumpet. Four of the six pieces are stretched-out, blissful textural drones made of reedy organ/harmonium chords and delicate feedback. "Harmophonie III" stands out for its uncannily peaceful harmony. The short "The Male Garden" acts like a postlude to "Pill Drop Geisha," almost an afterthought surfacing and quickly dissipating at the end of the third side. The album's undisputed highlight -- and its least representative track -- is "Happy Brown Lego Star," a piece with extra guitar and trumpet. It marvelously switches gears (and moods) halfway through, changing from a thick drone to an open, pretty acoustic guitar piece with quiet trumpet calls reminiscent of
Supersilent's
Arve Henriksen. This unexpected development also evokes
Giuseppe Ielasi's quieter pastures. Despite being a double LP,
Wir Können Leider Nicht Etwas Mehr Zu Tun... clocks in at under an hour, but there is a lot of quality droning in here, more than on
Black to Comm's debut CD for Dekorder. ~ François Couture