Bleep

The constellation-like images which adorn German composer Frank Bretschneider’s abtasten_halten are definitely no accident. Composed using a self-generating synthesiser patch which produces sound through movement between two VU meter needles, abtasten_halten paradoxically conveys repetition through difference. It’s percussive, as ‘abtasten_halten C’ deftly shows, but its movement is inconstant, implying twinkling constellations of sound worlds as unpredictable as they are tirelessly listenable.