Curious Music and Groenland Records recently released a 20th anniversary special edition release of ‘Lunz’ by Tim Story and Hans-Joachim Roedelius.

‘Lunz’ was the second collaboration of the German electronic music legend Hans-Joachim Roedelius (Cluster, Harmonia) and Grammy-nominated American composer/producer Tim Story. ‘Lunz’ was the culmination of the composer’s 25-year mutual admiration and friendship, and the beginning of a prolific partnership that spawned six acclaimed albums, audio art installations and live concerts across Europe and the US.

‘Lunz’ inhabits a world all its own, of lush acoustics and angular electronics, translucent pianos and dark ambiences. It’s a mysterious world where the innocent and the distressed occupy the same singular environment, coalescing perfectly.

This very special release comes newly remastered by Tim Story as a digital download, collector’s edition CD with 4 covers, and a double 180-gram audiophile vinyl release with hand-numbered and signed art print.

“I liked art that took awhile to get into”

How did you first hear the music of Cluster and what were your original thoughts about it?

Tim Story: I was working in a record store in high school, and was exposed to a lot of incredible music. I became fascinated with a lot of independent music coming out of Europe and England – Robert Wyatt, Can, Faust, so many more. I became a big fan of Cluster and Achim Roedelius’ music on Sky. ‘Sowiesoso,’ and Achim’s ‘Selbstportrait’ just felt like they were coming from a totally unique place, so different from the old rock-music forms in England and the USA.

How did you meet him?

After I had finished my second album ‘Untitled’ for the small Uniton Records in Norway, I took the leap, quit my job, and decided to dedicate myself to music. In 1983, I went to Europe for three months to visit the label and some music journalists and friends. I wrote to Achim, and asked if I might stop by for a visit. I ended up spending two weeks with him and his family in Austria, and we have remained good friends ever since.

What in particular did you find the most fascinating about Cluster? You produced ‘Qua,’ their first studio recording in more than a decade back in 2009. What do you recall from it?

I loved the dynamic between Moebi and Achim, their two very different but complementary approaches to sound and music. Their best music, and there was a lot of it, balanced the melodic and the abstract in such beautiful ways. ‘Qua’ was a wonderful experience. I had become good friends with Moebius during Cluster’s first US tour in ’96, they had both spent time often at my home in Ohio, and I think they both felt comfortable working here. It was a wonderful, easy experience. I gave them as many options as I could think of and a good place to work. We’d work during the day and relax, cook and drink wine in the evenings. It made for a very creative, relaxed space, I think we all were happy with the results.

What was the idea behind ‘Lunz’?

Achim and I had made a more experimental album ‘Persistence of Memory’ in 1999, and I think we felt that there was more to explore. I had loved the miniatures that he and Moebius had made with Conny Plank, and we decided to simply make some new pieces, with no idea what they would sound like, or what we would do with them. We worked sometimes together, sometimes he sent bits from Austria, and we’d trade files across the Atlantic. It was very natural, and ended up taking a few years until we just realized we had something special. We sent the finished pieces to Groenland in London who had just had some success with a wonderful reissue of Neu’s iconic records. It sat for a while on the label-head Herbert Groenemeyer’s desk I think, but he eventually fell in love with it somehow, and they released it. The new “20th Anniversary” release on Curious is spectacular – a gorgeous double-vinyl, and a CD with 4 different covers by our brilliant graphic artist Sebastian Boeking.

<a href="https://curiousmusicia.bandcamp.com/album/lunz">Lunz by Tim Story and Hans-Joachim Roedelius</a>

How would you describe the album?

A reviewer described it as “Striking yet ethereal. Like a walk through a beautiful wood at dusk, mindful of monsters rustling in the dark.” I always liked that description. Many of the pieces are piano-based but with a strange, dark, and abstract environment of electronics and found sounds. There’s a contrast between acoustic piano and cello parts that combine with the electronic elements in very integrated and interesting ways. It makes for a musical but surreal experience, a language of its own.

Are there any plans for the ‘Reinterpretations’ and ‘Lunz 3’ reissues?

‘Lunz 3’ just came out a few years ago, so it’s in its “first life” still, but Groenland just mentioned the possibility of re-releasing ‘Lunz Reinterpretations’ which was an interesting album of ‘Lunz’ remixes by various artists. Maybe next year! Our follow-up to ‘Lunz’ in 2007, ‘Inlandish’ got a lovely re-release on vinyl a couple years ago on the Curious Music label.

Would you like to talk also about the ‘Persistence of Memory’, another joint effort.

‘Persistence of Memory’ is more abstract, nearly a full hour of a single meandering journey in sound. We began it as the basis for a live performance in Philadelphia, but we enjoyed the process and the results so much, we elaborated it back in my studio into a small limited edition studio release. Little wisps of melody, field recordings, lots of mystery. I still enjoy hearing it.

Would you like to talk about some of the early influences, how you first got interested in music and what you can tell us about an early home studio in the 1970s?

I had the luxury of coming from a home that valued music, all kinds. I still remember hearing Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’ at about the age of 5, my mom had the LP. I was stunned, I couldn’t wrap my head around it. She loved the piano, and often played Debussy and Chopin, Debussy especially remained a favorite. Working in a record store in high school was the other life-changer. It was an amazing stroke of luck, the manager was John Thompson, he went on to become a big part of the Cleveland scene of the 70’s and 80’s with Pere Ubu, Devo and others. We listened to all the interesting stuff coming out from everywhere – everything from Roxy Music, Lou Reed, Mahavishnu Orchestra, to Robert Wyatt, Can, Miles Davis, Cluster, Terje Rypdal, Kraftwerk. It was an amazing introduction to all the music that wasn’t on the radio here in the rock-oriented radio of the Midwest. Later, I discovered Steve Reich, Talk Talk, the Bulgarian women’s choirs, and so many more.

“A goal of mine is to get listeners to put something of themselves into the experience,” can you share a bit more about this concept?

In a world where most “entertainment” strives to catch you with easy emotions, immerse you in a kind of thoughtless fully-controlled journey, I liked art that took awhile to get into, that you really had to meet halfway as a listener. It took a bit longer to connect to it, required a little more attention and collaboration as a listener, but when you did the experience was so much more rewarding. You can listen to it for years, and never feel like you’ve really gotten to the bottom of it.

What else currently occupies your life these days?

Keeping quite busy with music for the moment. It was a good year. A release of piano duets with Achim Roedelius called ‘4 Hands’ on Erased Tapes in London. ‘Rust Smudges,’ a strange reimagining of an early cassette album of mine, turning it into an ambient suite of “frozen” audio snapshots, on Dais Records. Continuing with my Moebius Strips’ audio installation, which turns the sounds and music of Dieter Moebius into a kind of 3D audio sculpture – we’re bringing it to Villa Aurora in L.A. next month. And a soundtrack for a documentary film on dissident Cuban art, called Activismo – I built it (like the Moebius Strips) from dozens of sounds and manipulated samples from public domain Cuban music. This makes me sound super busy, haha, but also finding time to enjoy life and a little travel, too.