Counterchange presents ‘Eigenlicht’ by Portuguese-German multi-instrumentalist, producer and award-winning film composer John Gürtler.

Gently teetering between krautrock-influenced synth mantras and saxophone improvisations, down-tempo electronica, sound design experiments and moments of rich ambience, ‘Eigenlicht’ is a diverse album of electro-acoustic music. The 11 tracks were recorded between two studios and on location at Berlin’s infamous Teufelsberg, the abandoned Cold War era US spy-radio and radar outpost named ‘Field Station Berlin’, surrounded by forest to the west of the city.

A document of Gürtler’s development, many of the pieces here were first laid down in his bunker-like former basement studios at Drontheimer Straße in north Berlin, before he eventually elevated above ground - both physically and musically - building his current Paradox Paradise studio and becoming an established film music composer. In 2019 John won the European Film Academy Award for Best Score, for his soundtrack for Nora Fingscheidt’s debut feature ‘Systemsprenger’ (System Crasher).

In recent years John collaborated on a number of projects with acclaimed German producer and composer Phillip Sollmann aka Efdemin, performing live and releasing the ‘Gegen Die Zeit’ EP on Sky Walking, a subsidiary of Dial records where he also remixed Efdemin’s ‘Parallaxis’ under the moniker The Borderland State.

In part an ode to the Macbeth Systems M5 modular synthesizer, with its three oscillators, much of the album features the towering instrument, whose uniquely rich tone and rumbling, pure bass end characterises tracks like ‘Eigenlicht’, ‘M5’, ‘Synthetics’ and ‘Five Voice’.

“The M5’s built in spring reverb and huge sliders and faders - as opposed to all the tiny knobs on Eurorack synths - make it as playable as any acoustic instrument.”

John’s primary background is in acoustic music, coming from woodwind and keyboard instruments, improvisation and composition. The leap into working with computers and electronic instruments found him exploring ways to make synths and samplers sound as organic as possible.

One of the first analog synths John bought was a polyphonic soviet-built Electronics EM-25 (Электроника ЭМ-25) that he had shipped from Uzbekistan. It was cheap, but built like a tank and sounded like something between an organ and a Roland Juno synth. You can hear it on ‘Russia Falling’ - just like the title, the softly detuned chords descend as the track builds to its howling peak.

Part of John’s ongoing search took him to amplifying synthesisers in unusual spaces, from the vast basement corridors outside his old Drontheimer Straße studio to the 12 second-long reverb spaces of the Teufelsberg Station. The track ‘Old Devil’s Hill’ is a spontaneous composition played on saxophone, recorded in the middle of Field Station Berlin's highest dome.

“I was driving up there regularly with a friend, dragging instruments and battery powered amplifiers up the hill, through holes in the fence and all the way up a tiny staircase to the highest point above Berlin, just to get that amazing sound. It’s such a strange reverb because it tunes every single note into near perfect pitch.”

Through connecting different kinds of old and new wind controllers, John was able to play synthesizers with a controller similar to a saxophone or clarinet, that would recognise lip pressure and intensity of breath. You can hear the M5 brought to life on ‘Eigenlicht’, a tribute to the synth’s Scottish creator Ken Macbeth, as John plays it with a breath controller, layering intertwining patterns before opening up into a joyous solo.

“The faders on the M5 are so wide that I’d stick a tape beneath them and draw lines for certain notes, creating scales I could play with without using a keyboard, like on the track ‘M5’. I had brought a lot of old leaves, branches and plant seeds into the studio to create an earthy drone bed for the track. It also features a Santur which my parents brought back from Tehran as they fled back to Europe on account of the revolution in ’79.” Most of the tracks feature improvised performance elements, often allowing a certain ‘first take’ magic.

For a period John had an original Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 at the studio. ‘Suchend’ is a first take, one take recording.

“I love the way there’s this rhythmic warbling coming from the synth, it almost sounds like an old record. I used to pass up this kind of track for being unspectacular, but looking back it’s the spontaneous and simple ones that (still) stand out to me…”