La Luna

They Say...

Review by Nathan Bush, All Music Guide

Best known for his founding role in the historical experimental outfit Can, Holger Czukay spent a great deal of the '80s and '90s out of the spotlight, engaged in a series of collaborations. With his signing to the Tone Casualties label and the release of 1999's Good Morning Story, he resumed his solo career proper. Czukay is no stranger to the extended composition -- Can's "Yoo Doo Right," "Halleluhwah," and "Bel Air" and Czukay's own "Canaxis" and "Mirage" all clocked in around the 20-minute mark. La Luna (2000) takes things one step further, developing its ideas over the course of one 47-minute composition. The music on this disc marries the electronic/ambient sounds of the late '90s with the electro-acoustic practices that provided Czukay with early sonic inspiration. Slow burning is the operative phrase here. Starting from a low, mechanical din, Czukay slowly shifts the direction through undercurrents of estranged voices, string drones, glockenspiel chatter, slippery electro beats, and detached rhythmic patterns that seep into the sound field. All the while, the ominous tone of some ambient factory speaks of an eventual, chilling payoff. Halfway in, you are still heading for some uncertain conclusion, drifting about the music's dark fog. As you search your memory for a turnoff you may have missed, a soft, female voice whispers "La Luna...goddess of the moon," entering into an ode to the power of the song's subject. The music never recovers, becoming fragmented and tripping up before receding into the mist once again. The text, while significant to the concept, seems out of character in this setting, distracting from the music Czukay has so carefully crafted. Thankfully, the spoken word only takes up a small portion, allowing the listener to focus on a musical construction worth revisiting.