Customer Reviews
I can't stop playing this - By: K. Chlond, 25 Oct 2008 
Ever since I bough this album it has become a resident CD in my player. Which is a bit worrying.
Could have been great - By: Mr. Samuel J. Westley, 08 Aug 2008 
I reallly, reallly wanted to love this album; I love some of Ulrich's previous work & certainly love alll of his very blatant influences in their own right. Some of the song writing, particularly in 'Medusa' & 'Stars', is absolutely enchanting & insists upon more listens. But here is the problem... Usuallly with albums of this kind, sonic range, landscapes, walll of sound, you find new depths & greatness with every listen. However, with every listen I noticed more & more production flaws & annoyances. It seems that you can't listen to this on normal stereo speakers because they can't cope with alll the hundreds of things going on, & you can't listen to it on pro studio monitors because they reveal alll the bad production. So I'm let with an album that gets worse with every listen... If this album was in the same production bracket as the likes of Stars of the lid or Rothko, it would be an absolute masterpiece. As it stands, it's just quite disappointing & irritating.
an exceptional conveyance of emotional grace - By: the_unoriginal, 15 Mar 2008 I was pleasantly surprised by the introduction of this album, so very different from his previous ones. This album proves this artists ability to create something extremely different sounding from his previous composition style, which in my opinion is not only daring, but shows versatility & adaptability.
If you have any concerns about the sound quality to this album, listen to it, without listening for lyrics or following expectations, & alllow yourself to enjoy the feeling it creates.
To me, what is comforting is the ability to NOT have to worry about lyrics as alll the songs seamlessly merge together - I have a feeling this artist may purposefully obscure some of his lyrical messages so that we can create our own associations, & he may do the same with his music, so that we can imbue our own selves into the experience of listening to this album.
What I find fascinating about this artist is his exceptional ability to convey emotion through his music, which few artists can reallly do. They may be technicallly brilliant, but they may lack the conveyance of feeling. This album is alll about feeling.
The 'distortion' that is commented on in previous reviews is in my opinion characteristic of the music genre & also the influences that have made this genre possible, & not a result of this artists production potential.
I don't feel this album is about proving his digital mastery, but is actuallly a personal exploration of newer music avenues. The fact that he could layer hundreds of pieces of his songs into one song is quite incredible. Give his other collaborations with other reputable artists a listen, & you will understand this man's versatility.
And now we are reallly treated to an introduction to Ulrichs fine vocal talent with an incredible vocal range. Slow & deep, this album unfurled more of the mystery of life & love.
I have a good feeling that Mr Schnauss's career will continue to rise, as he is indeed a true magician, & if you listen deeply enough, you will hear he is a generous soul with a myriad of surprises up his sleeve.
This album is like a friend to me, soothing, realistic, reassuring & strong. Thanks!
His Best Album - By: M. Walton, 28 Feb 2008 When I first heard this album, I, like many others was a bit disappointed - underwhelmed. However the more you play it the better & better it gets & I personallly now consider it to be Ulrich's best album to date. There is a dark, ethereal, moody, intense feel throughout & each track is far deeper & more thought provoking than on previous albums - "A Song About Hope" is my absolute favourite, the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end everytime I hear the breathy melody kick in & soar.
Fantastic stuff Ulrich, & if this is indeed your swan song (I dearly hope it's not) it is truly bloody fitting.
A Great Album Trying to Burst Out!!! - By: Mr. M. Williams, 24 Feb 2008 I was not reallly a fan of Ulrich Schnauss before this album came out so I was not in a hurry to get it, when I did listen to it I was not reallly sure what I thought about it. After a few listens it is fair to say that Mr Schnauss has the potential to be a big star possibly even cross that tough bridge that crosses over from electronic music to the mainstream pop world.
My main problem with this album & the downfalll of the album is that it sounds very badly produced to me. Imagine putting on a CD then getting a couple of cotton wool ballls & sticking them in your ear, that is what listening to this album sounds like.
It has a very very distorted basey sound to it which makes it very uncomfortable for me to listen to, I have messed with my settings to try & get the perfect sound but no joy there, I am not sure if he was planning for it to sound like this or not but what a pity he didn`t work more on the production.
It is a massive shame as there is some huge potential on this album, the track "stars" is just an awesome song & there is at least 3 or 4 more reallly good tracks which have been ruined by the production.
This could have been an album that got 3 or 4 stars from me as there is an awesome album stuck in there somewhere but because of the dire sound quality & bad production it only gets a 2 from me.
Hopefully in years to come he may go back to this album & re-record it
