Wunder

text

Snowflakes are falling... dusting Wunder's wintry electropop with a sprinkling of Cologne's finest confectionary sugar. Many of these pieces glide in on the orchestral coattails of the croon and swoon set, their wagons hitched to the 33rpm stardust memories of Jacques Brel, Astor Piazzolla, Lena Horne and Perry Como. The rolling note-heavy jazz play of a modal trifle such as "What I Know" is actually closer, in a sweet and silent way, to depolymerized Henry Cow. But there's no "opposition" here - Wunder's soft machine musik has neither a political nor an obstreperous in its body. More typical of Wunder's gentle charms is "How We Are," whisked of into the same sphere of am(oe)bient ear-candy as Nonplace Urban Field or Atom Heart with strings and clever dub effects. Or the looped echo-deck ethers from which "Strings of Clouds" borrows its shape(lessness) and the sampladelic ephemera which coincides in the lovely shivering folkforms of "Shall Have Wings" and "In Life." This crystal-tone walk on the mild side may seem rather lightweight at a scant 35 minutes, but Wunder is.... yes, "'s wunderful!" One of the purest pleasures to emerge from Cologne since Mouse On Mars' fantastic Iaora Tahiti.