LP / PHANTOM HORSE — Mehr Null

VINYL LP
Released December 2020
Germany

Mehr Null translates to More Zero. The title of Phantom Horse’s third record for Umor Rex could either be seen as a request (to the listener? to the sound engineer?) to expect or to do or to imagine less; or just as the description of a state.

The Hamburg / Nijmegen based duo of Ulf Schuette and Niklas Dommaschkis indeed moving nearer to zero: the arrangements are less illuminated; there’s a significant nod to JD Emmanuel’s working class vision of minimalism. Hitherto walking in the kraut tradition (but moving away more and more), Phantom Horse heads toward the synth swamps where the old-fashioned shamanic disco is not yet abandoned. From the light green melancholy of “Owl” to the unexpected playfulness of the title track, the duo has obviously worked hard on leaving things out. Still, there’s light-footed magic like in “Common Magic”, the background music for a comet rain coming into your world. You can find hints to the lower-key film scores by Tangerine Dream, but Phantom Horse’s approach fits more into a factory building where sad robots are working their night shifts on a sea horse machine. It’s the perfect soundtrack to the non hungover day after.

Produced by Niklas Dommaschk & Ulf Schütte. Recorded between 2018 and 2020 in Hamburg, Berlin and Nijmegen. Percussions on Constellations of Mabu by Manuel Chittka. Mastered by Jürgen De Blonde at allthingssound, Gen. Artwork & Photos by Daniel Castrejón.

TRACKLIST / 42 minutes

01 Mynah Bird Sounds
02 Owl
03 Nachtwinkel
04 Mehr Null
05 Common Magic
06 Constellations of Mabu

UMOR REX is a window with a unique vision of experimental music. It's a label worth discovering through your ears, both for electronic music lovers and for those curious to explore new forms of artistic expression.

Founded in 2006 in Mexico City, UMOR REX is an independent record label with a challenging and experimental catalog, in vinyl and cassette formats, spanning from ambient to electronic experimentation, dub, and avant-garde. They release the work of artists constantly exploring new sonic territories, such as Felicia Atkinson, Driftmachine, Rafael Anton Irisarri, Gudrun Gut, Siavash Amini, among many others.