- Don't call it a comeback, but this LP—carrying the spirit of Edgar Froese's musical genius—is the best Tangerine Dream record in decades.
- Since Edgar Froese's death in 2015, the remaining members of Tangerine Dream have reverently followed in his footsteps. Most of their subsequent records have been based around recordings or sequences left by Froese, with results that varied from the epic to the the schlocky. The group's remaining core trio—Thorsten Quaeschning as "musical director," Ulrich Schnauss on synths and Hoshiki Yamane on violin—have led the group to something that feels more prog rock than kosmische, a defining aspect of The Quantum Years, a concept intended by Froese to incorporate quantum physics into composition. (The jury's out on what that actually means.) It was also a concerted effort to bring Tangerine Dream back to its former greatness, a mission never truly realized until now. Put simply, Raum is the first time the group have truly captured what made their past work so great in a long, long time. For a Tangerine Dream fan, this album is glorious.
One look at the album cover should give you the warm fuzzies: it's a direct throwback to albums like Alpha Centauri and Zeit, from a time when the group were making sounds that basically no one had ever heard before. Raum doesn't pretend to be so innovative. Instead, the group seize on Froese's inimitable melodies and arpeggios and embellish carefully, highlighting the restrained side of Tangerine Dream rather than the group's latter-day bombast. Not that there aren't surprises—the first few billowing bars of the album lead to a brisk broken beat, somewhere between techno and electro. Tangerine Dream go to the club it isn't, but these beats lend Raum the compositional muscle that made '80s tracks like "Beach Theme" so memorable.
All of Raum's shorter tracks balance the more magisterial side of the band's '80s work with modern rhythms and heatstruck IDM melodies that could have ended up on a Plaid record. They're lovely. But Raum really belongs to its two 15-minute-plus epics. The closing title track could be a direct sequel to "Phaedra," based around a taut, choppy arpeggio that gradually flames out into a keening violin outro. I know what you're thinking—violin? Yes, that's one of the defining characteristics of this era of Tangerine Dream, but Yamane's playing has never felt so integrated into the band as it does here. In fact, the band sound more like a cohesive unit than they ever have in Froese's absence. Where on more recent albums instruments like guitar and violin tended to jump out of the mix, here they meld with the synths, creating those silvery timbres that made the band sound so alluring in the '70s.
The band are tightest on the 20-minute centrepiece "In 256 Zeichen," which cycles through zero-gravity synth passages, gently plucked acoustic guitar and shimmering violin, floating towards an incredible breakdown and then gradually disintegrating into nothingness. The ambitious, symphonic structure threads together Froese's dovetailing interests in space opera melodrama and experimental electronics, carrying his spirit forward into 2022 as well as anyone could. "In 256 Zeichen" is the moment on the album that makes you think of Tangerine Dream as a band with something new to offer. This is Raum's greatest gift—it's not just a trip to the past but a truly worthy addition to one of the most important but overwhelming catalogues in electronic music.
Trying to follow Tangerine Dream after "Love On A Real Train" is a fool's errand. Theirs is a discography so overstuffed with soundtracks, tossed-off records, confusing series and remakes that it would be easy to give up hope on the band ever making another Phaedra (or even a White Eagle). But if you want to pick up one post-'80s Tangerine Dream record, make it this one. I've had my doubts about the band carrying on without Froese—without the guiding hand that held the band together even at its cheesiest—but Raum is both a warm-hearted tribute to him and a noble effort to continue on with his work. Edgar Froese's one-of-a-kind spirit lives on in these recordings, and whether or not Tangerine Dream ever make another record after this one is immaterial. With ideas that Froese wisely and generously left behind in this earthly realm, Froese has given us another Tangerine Dream near-masterpiece, created by the loyal pupils who grew up in his significant shadow.
Tracklist01. Continuum
02. Portico
03. In 256 Zeichen
04. You're Always On Time
05. Along The Canal
06. What You Should Know About Endings
07. Raum