Benedikt Wieland — Creatures EP

Creatures is the first of a series of solo concept EPs from Swiss / German bass experimentalist, improviser, and composer Benedikt Wieland. The release is a culmination of a three year-long research process into the notion of subverting traditional approaches and sound aesthetics associated with the electric bass. In other words, this work is based on a language that was specifically developed for this instrument, where, in the words of the artist: “the bass guitar becomes an orchestra, and is no longer bound to its traditional role as the foundation for harmony and rhythm.” Technical frameworks aside, creatures is an acutely personal work. It’s a document that captures the moment of an artist quantum leaping into a new understanding of himself, his art, and the world around him – rendered in granular detail. 

The journey started as a series of improvisation sessions that took place in Wieland’s Berlin-based studio, back in 2019. Progressively, more intricate chains of effects and routings were implemented. In the second phase, the accrued soundscapes were chopped, structured, and layered, as if they were oil paintings. With every iteration, new possibilities were unlocked. Throughout the process, Wieland checked in with two of his production advisers: film composer Alexandre J. Maurer and electronica artist Jan Bang. Maurer was responsible for unpacking the cinematic qualities of the compositions and keeping an eye on silver-screen compatibility (sound design). Bang pushed for an untethered approach to experimentation; helping Wieland broaden his sound palette and develop new permutations of his newfound idiom. He also suggested that he add more percussive elements to the songs. That’s when Wieland picked up this zoom recorder and methodically started to document the sounds of his daily routines and rituals; Berlin, as a city at large. These recordings were eventually converted into a sample bank and used to program beats. The final recordings were done in the summer of 2021, in a cozy barn in the Swiss village of Zweisimmen. This explains why you can hear birds, rustling foliage, and playing children sprinkled across these recordings. 

The Creatures EP features a variety of musical talent cherry-picked from Wieland’s sprawling musical family. Electronic composer and vocalist REA appears on the atmospheric opener Creatures. Her voice moves like mist, floating through the song like strings. Lukasz Polowczyk, the voice of AINT ABOUT ME, can be heard on Medicine, supported by saxophone player Simon Spiess. This piece can be best described as an inter-dimensional portal leading into the tessellated space underpinning our reality. What Are You Doing Here closes the EP; but it’s the type of song you wish could go on forever. If you could bottle a syrupy summer, this would be it. It features Morris Kliphuis on french horn (altered / manipulated) as well as the sound of joy (aka a gang of playing children). The beautifully stuttering drums were added courtesy of Alexandre J. Maurer. The EP also features a brutalist meditation on distortion, the interlude Room 145. If the point of this EP was to lay out the fundamentals of a personal language while documenting the beauty of the life around you, to capture very specific moments, and make the listener feel as if they’re being transported into a film: mission accomplished!