Benedikt Wieland — Ocean EP

“The opener of Benedikt Wieland’s latest EP feels like the score to a night out that slowly but steadily spirals out of control: what starts calm and collected ends in a sea of distortion and reverb. The journey might not be smooth sailing at all, but you’ll be rewarded with an outcome that feels profoundly cleansing.” Sven Fortmann Chef Editor of Lowdown Magazine

Even though music might be there for everybody, people tend to meticulously classify and over-intellectualize it. They just love to make a clear distinction between high and low art, not necessarily based on the artist's craft and skill set but on the genre it is feeding to. Now, Benedikt Wieland’s "Ocean EP" arrived to remind you that music must always be felt first and foremost.

Swiss/German composer and bass experimentalist Wieland is also known as the creative force behind the progressive jazz outfit Kaos Protokoll and as the founder of the boutique Label Prolog Records.

He has released since 2022 music as a solo artist with uncanny regularity, on which he’s using his trusted bass in ways that aren’t significantly implemented in contemporary music.

He continues to do so on his latest EP as well, which now marks the finishing of this release series he started back in August 22.

The Ocean EP offers a unique musical tapestry that’s basically isolated from any kind of clear genre affiliation. It’s pop, but then it clearly isn’t. It flirts with soul and jazz and improvisation, but then it actually isn’t too interested in using the operatic ingredients connected to it to feed the purists. Instead, "Ocean" is offering a projection surface for the movie inside the listener’s mind, forcing them to listen carefully - and choose their colors wisely.

“Music, when done right, is able to have an immediate effect on you, and that’s exactly why you hold it close to your heart from that very moment it enters your life. Benedikt Wieland’s "Ocean EP" reminds you of this simple fact.” Sven Fortmann