Christian Löffler is co-founder of Ki Records and well known for his intense, deep moving sound with melancholic undertones. He started to play music at the age of 14. But living in a secluded region near the Baltic Sea, without a musical surrounding, he had to teach himself the essentials of making electronic music.
After several stunning releases for Ki, C.Sides and Orphanear, the imprint of Dial's co-founder Pawel, his debut 'A Forest' is now being released through Ki. His music signifies an upward curve of rising intensity from which everything non-essential drops away. Whereat essential is meant in the sense of introspective. If the kick drum thuds along reasonably unassuming in the beginning of a track, it is already withdrawn into itself. Dancing, sure, but with one foot in a dream.
There is the always emerging crackling, surrounding the arriving and surrounding what has been, floating, like almost absent into each other collapsing chords, circling around a sphere which is nearly beyond the music – a sphere that only pertains me, the listener, and which I hadn't known without this music. And these like seagulls chopping hi-hats, or like a heavy sea beating bass lines, rolling back and forth in almost oblique of beauty hanging clearings.
A FOREST, for example, casts somewhat Tejada-esque shadows but without the timpani, only with meandering delay. And yes you do remember the sunlight of tomorrow when you hear BLIND or FIELD. Or SIGNALS, a track on which Arvo Pärt could have been the force behind and whose Tintinnabuli (bell) style connects on it with the dance floor in the most beautiful way. Not only raises it the volume, but also warms the heart.
Dates
31. May 13
Neustrelitz (GER), Immergut Festival
1. July 13
Munich (GER), Feierwerk
Ki Releases
Christian Löffler - A Forest
Ki-LP02Christian Löffler stays in the forest with his debut album. After the single „Aspen“, which is named after a certain kind of tree that is typical for his home region in the north of Germany, he now comes along with a full length Album called „A Forest“.
The closeness to nature in Löffler’s work is more than just an escape from the urban world. For the time he produced the album, Christian lived in a small house near Usedom. There was not much more than a room and a window with a view into the forest. While wandering through the woods and out to the sea, he captured many sounds that found a way into his music. The sound of leaves and breaking waves create a sometimes melancholic and sometimes threatening atmosphere. Wooden sounds are also often used in his tracks. Around these sounds Christian Löffler creates music, that can’t be associated with the rough and industrial atmosphere from urban life very much, but more with the warm and melancholic vibe of mother nature.
A very new aspect in Christian’s work on this album is the use of vocals. While he used vocal samples for the first time in his collaboration with Ki-colleague and friend Steffen Kirchhoff on their Split EP for Ki Records, more complex vocal structures find their way into his music on „A Forest“. In the track „Feelharmonia“ Christian collaborates with the Danish musician Gry Noehr Bagøien and creates a hypnotic track in which the vocals slowly develop into really sung words. On „Eleven“ he works with Mohna, singer of Hamburg based band Me Succeeds, and uses her fragile voice throughout a whole track.
Another special piece on „A Forest“ is „Swift Code“, on which Christian works together with the lyricist and poet Marcus Roloff. The two met on the „frankfurt poetry festival“ in 2011 and decided to do something together. The result is a track with sometimes implicit and sometimes explicitly threatening poem passages that fit perfectly into Löffler’s sound realm.
The cover was also made by Christian Löffler, who also works as an artist on paintings and photography. He captured the image during one of his many walks throughout the forests near Usedom.
* 2012
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Christian Löffler - Aspen
Ki-008„Aspen“ is the name of Christian Loeffler’s Single before his debut album on Ki called „A Forest“. The name of the single is not to be misunderstood as a dedication to the ski resort in Colorado. It’s rather a dedication to Christian Loeffler’s home region in the north of Germany.
Loeffler walked out into the forests near Darss, to take field recordings of the trees that commonly grow in that area, which are called „Aspen“. The landscape near Darss is characterized by signs of storm and rough sea climate, but is also considered as a popular health resort in Germany. The tracks on „Aspen“ create this contrary atmosphere: Noise and silence, destruction and peacefulness, electronic sounds and traditional instruments unite in harmony.
The Cover Artwork for „Aspen“ was taken by Christian Loeffler himself in the Forests of Darss.
* 2012
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Christian Löffler / Steffen Kirchhoff - Baltic Sea
Ki-006The second part of the Ki Split Series is a feature of our homegrown talents Christian Löffler and Steffen Kirchhoff. The two friends are part of the Ki family since the beginning (Löffler was responsible for the first release on Ki and Kirchhoff for the third).
Both artist have a close connection in sound aesthetics and atmosphere, since they still inspire each other every day. „The first people to listen to my unfinished tracks are my girlfriend, family and Christian Löffler“ says Steffen Kirchhoff about his process of making music. They are also both artists throughout: Christian manages to have different art projects running from music to painting and Steffen is also a very talented photographer. But what impressed the international audience lately were their live-sets, which they already performed all over germany and europe.
In this release everything comes together what these two exceptional talents learned on their journey so far. A remarkable aspect is the use of samples, which both seem to have discovered as a new passion in their process of making music. On the Ki Split Series 2/3 you can listen to Christian Löffler and Steffen Kirchhoff experimenting with beautiful samples and underlining the whole piece with their unique sound structure. Both in their respective very own romantic approach to deep, melancholic techno music.
The cover artwork and photography comes from Christian Löffler.
* 2011
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Christian Löffler - Heights
Ki-001
Ki is proud to announce it's very first release with a great donation by germany’s Christian Löffler. Christian Löffler shows in this Release that he has a lot coming up in the future. Easily spanning the range from deep house to techno by keeping a harmonic sound structure over all four tracks. The EP has already received positive feedback from various DJ's and Record Stores and is sure to hit the Dancefloors from a melancholic point of view.
‘Heights’ has been released on limited vinyl as well as a digital four track EP. The vinyl comes in a hardcover sleeve featuring Christian Löffler’s own artwork.
* 2009
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