"Long-awaited" doesn't even begin to describe Neuland. After all, its core synth cadets (former Tangerine Dream members Peter Baumann and Paul Haslinger) first workshopped a record under a different name (Blue Room) nearly 30 years ago. Its promising sessions were ultimately shelved, but the project's creative process firmly established their friendship and a fruitful dialogue that defies explanation. Neuland started the way many long overdue projects do: with Paul Haslinger and Peter Baumann asking themselves, "Why isn't there anything out there like this?" In their case, that meant a deeply immersive debut album that’s respectful of their roots in Tangerine Dream but exists on its own astral plane, Far more restless than most ambient records, the pair's self-titled LP is both focused and freeing, alluding to everything from weightless grime melodies to windswept film scores. And while there are hints of many different modern artists here (Oneohtrix Point Never's sci-fi scapes, Zombi's prog nods, the mechanical animal melodies of Amon Tobin and Arca), Neuland is ultimately the sound of something entirely new.
"It all boils down to one word, transcendence" explains Baumann.
