Trans Harmonic Nights

The production phase for Trans Harmonic Nights covered 16 months or thereabouts. Having built the [Paragon] studio and taken care of production on albums for Cluster, Asmus Tietchens, Conrad Schnitzler and Hans-Joachim Roedelius, many of which came out on the French label Egg, he had neither the time nor the inclination to focus on his own compositions. Numerous tracks on the album were actually created at the end of the working day, on downtime, just for fun in the unfinished studio. Peter Baumann explains: "It was a completely different time for music, everything we did was spontaneous, in the moment. My first two records happened when I was working in the studio, simply expressing myself as a musician, sensing which emotions, timbres, rhythms and melodies were closest to me."

This approach shines through the music, underpinning its authenticity and making the album such a delight to listen to today: carefree, playful, unbelievably euphoric. Synth lines are exhiliratingly entwined with synthetic plucks, experimental sounds crystallize into sweet melodies, building into ecstatic breaks. Majestic Mellotron choirs and added vocoder tones lend an ethereal, surreal touch. It is virtually impossible not to get caught up in this rapture, to be swayed by the infectiously upbeat nature of the music. Hans-Joachim Roedelius was producing his Jardin au Fou album at the same time and one might be forgiven for thinking that his carefree positivity rubbed off on Baumann.