moonbooter - the reticence of dreams

In October 2020 Moonbooter ( Bernd Scholl ) finished the work on his last album “Beyond the Neonlights“. After that, he didn’t turn on any of his synthesizers for 5 months. Yes,he needed time off from music production for the first time in his life. The Corona blues and the cancelled concerts and jobs did the rest. During this time he thought a lot about life. He also listened intensively to his own music of the last decades. This experience was new and valuable. But making his own music was taboo. In between, he was plagued by real worries that he had irretrievably lost something in himself. That happens to many. Fortunately it came differently. At the beginning of April, Bernd turned on his synths for the first time in almost half a year with the aim of working on new musical ideas. One idea followed the next. After a few days he came up with the idea of using a kind of essence of his musical work so far as a concept for the next album. It is very important to him that his new album “Reminiscence“ is not a remix album. Every song is new and from scratch. Bernd has used his own sounds and ideas from his own musical past with care. Fans and loyal listeners of his music will surely notice and like this. The ideas bubbled out and within a few weeks 90 minutes of new music was ready, which he cut down to 75 minutes and without any restrictions in quality or sound. “Reminiscence“ contains romantic, epic, sentimental, kitschy, crazy, euphoric and sad moods and thus reflects Bernd’s musical work of the last years very well. The technical work on “Reminiscence“ was characterized by sheer pragmatism. Much was recorded live and with a lot of moving modulations directly. If a sound from a plugin fit then that was just as good as a self-programmed sound from the analog synth. Too many cooks spoil the breath. According to this motto, Bernd initially left sounds as they were. The idea of a song as well as arrangement and variety were in the foreground. The songs should get more space and also time. In the final mix, he then exchanged many sounds and deliberately concentrated on a few, but really good synthesizers and effects. New ideas were also added to the final mix. He deleted almost half of the tracks rigorously. Only in this way could the songs breathe without losing complexity. During mastering Bernd also allowed a few dB more level than usual. This did not harm the sound either. Almost all songs flow into each other and do not stand alone. Bernd experimented with many different track orders and found the final tension to be a perfect mix. The artwork can be interpreted in different ways: His idea was to show differently tuned people going left, that is “going back“ to where they have been before. In this way they are accompanied by his music, symbolized by the waveform circle above. After the artwork was finished and a few days had passed, Bernd discovered a second intention: in this one, the people with bowed heads also go back, only this time to an undesirable normality. Above them towers a “threat“ to which they feel powerlessly subjected. It’s strange how the subconscious can sometimes influence an outcome. However, both interpretations reflect the time in which the music was created. Musically, he doesn’t see it as a standstill. On the contrary. Bernd tried to allow new elements again. All in all, “Reminiscence“ has become a bit more classical. And also more dynamic, which has always been a bit difficult for Bernd in terms of production. Moonbooter: “While I’m writing these lines I’m listening to the final album again. It has become exactly the way I am and want to be. And that’s damn good. Have fun with my album “Reminiscence“. “