Seismic-Sound Featured Album Preview: Apparat “Krieg Und Frieden” Due Out February 19th.

Apparat, aka Sascha Ring, is happy to announce the release of Krieg und Frieden (Music for Theatre), an album of music based on Sebastian Hartmann’s theatre production of Tolstoy’s War & Peace. It is slated for a digital release on February 19th, but in the mean time get a taste of the album and download the single ‘A Violent Sky’ HERE.

The renowned German arts festival Ruhrfestspiele in Recklinghausen commissioned Sebastian Hartmann on this project of bring Tolstoy’s masterpiece to the stage. Hartman, considered one of the biggest innovators of contemporary German theatre, called upon Ring to contribute to this mammoth project.

During the initial meetings with Hartmann it became clear that there was no script or anything comparable, rather the text was a collective effort of the entire ensemble. After spending time with Tolstoy’s original text, Ring took up residence in an old abandoned factory. For four weeks he rehearsed his music with the whole 30-piece ensemble. Says Ring, “This is anything but conventional theatre. It’s a free space, where a bunch of freaks can go wild. It starts with the lights and stops with the actual actors. At night, we worked on the music in the empty hall. It was kind of magical.”

Recorded with Philipp Timm (cello) and Christoph Hartmann (violin), who are members ofApparat’s live band, the album features artwork by Tilo Baumgärtel, whose work actually forms part of the theatre production.

The project was initially conceived to end with the last performance of the play, and no release was ever imagined. As the production drew to an end, they found they hadn’t fully exhausted the potential of the songs yet. “Because it evolved out of a process, and transformed all the time, there’s always been a certain freshness to it.” explains Ring.

Beautiful motifs only popped up for seconds before they faded away into the performance. To breathe new life into their soundscape, the trio headed into the studio and rediscovered their musical achievements. “In the studio the material got another twist, it became a real piece of music. I took the recordings with me, wherever I was – at home, at a hotel room, in an airplane, and straightened it up. I decided to not go completely crazy about the editing, I didn’t want the music to become demanding. Every record tends to become mere work at some point. Euphoria then turns into the feeling that you are standing in the middle of a huge construction site. I actively wanted to avoid this feeling this.”

For Apparat experiments in sound are strongly linked to exploring emotions. Over the course of seven album releases Ring has developed a universe of multifarious emotions. From his early works,Multifunktionsebene (2001) and Duplex (2003), which removed the abstractness of electronic music and introduced a new spectrum of feelings its well-tested modes, to collaborations with Ellen Alien (Orchestra of Bubbles) and Modeselektor (as Moderat), he is in constant evolution. His most recent evolution would be his creation of the Apparat band and the release of The Devils Walk. Released in 2010, it was his first with Mute.

Apparat is currently on a DJ tour, with shows coming up in Tokyo and Egypt. To experience his DJ set from home, take a look at his recent appearance at the Boiler Room Berlin: http://boilerroom.tv/apparat-60-min-mix/