Seligpreisung

Seligpreisung is an album of subtle change for Popol Vuh – their line-up is in flux here, with guitarist Conny Veit moving out of the picture, to be replaced by his bandmate in Gila, Daniel Fichelscher, who’d become Popol Vuh leader Florian Fricke’s right-hand man for many years. And with vocalist Djong Yun unavailable, it fell upon Fricke to take on singing duties. His nasal drone doesn’t match up to the weightless drift of Yun, but it has its own charm: if the devotional raga-rock of songs like “…Selig sind, die da hier weinen, Ja, sie sollen später lachen” is heading for the skies, Fricke’s mumble is a reminder of the earthbound mortals at the heart of this music. Seligpreisung sees Fricke transitioning into a mode he’ll explore for years to come – simple phrases, locked in repeat, ringing out on massed electric guitars and piano, grounded by elemental rhythms, and limned by spectral detail – the purr of a tambura, or the sigh of an echoplexed guitar.