Guenter Schlienz – Peace

Over several years, Guenter Schlienz has graced labels such as Constellation Tatsu, Sacred Phrases, S.I.N.K. CDs, SicSic, Preservation so we are very excited here at Rural Colours to be added to that list with his latest work Peace.

After noticing that several friends had begun to end emails marked ‘Peace’, Guenter Schlienz, ever full of questions, started to ponder on the meaning of the word in this context. Around the same time he started to read Henry Miller’s book ‘The Collossus of Maroussi’ and was intrigued by a couple of paragraphs devoted to exactly this question: what is “the meaning of peace”. He came to the conclusion that there is much more to “peace” than just the absence of war. The albums track titles are words by Henry Miller, and the work is Guenter’s humble attempt to gather sounds and atmospheres around those lines.

Using modular synths combined with tape loops, analog and digital delays, vintage electronic organ and guitar, Schlienz works within a romantically inward looking framework, creating music that comes from deep within. His compositions reflect themes of tenderness, alienation and homecoming and feature a range of guest musicians including Masako Kamikawa (piano on ‘Reverberation of the Pandemonium’) and Niko Lazarakopoulos (guitar on ‘Faint Whispers’) and even an anonymous busker from the streets of Stuttgart on ‘Who Put the Demons There?’