Schatterau

German trio Schatterau are onto something here. If you caught last year's self-titled full-length, you'll know broadly what to expect - muggy, ferric textures wrapped around skeletal, lounge-y songs that remind us of that moment in German avant-pop history when techno hadn't fully asserted its cultural dominance. But 'Über Jahr' is just a little more focused, a little tighter around the edges, its "proper songs" separated and bolstered by entrancing scene-setting vignettes that evoke the album's concept. The trio were inspired by the changing seasons, and the transformation and movement that cyclical event might suggest, so the powdery 'Es schneit' (it's snowing), all faded tape noise and suggestive brass flutters is balanced out with 'Die Wüste' (the desert) on the other end of the scale, almost four minutes of rusty percussion, saturated drum machine loops and carefully placed movie samples.

These labyrinthine musings on the passing of time cushion Schatterau's poppier moments. On 'Saison', Daniel Jahn's whispered German lyrics snake through the faded piano punctuations, distorted synths and Tobias Rutkowski's Durutti Column-esque guitars, and 'Wintergarten' is a slowcore delight, adding muffled drums to the mix as Jahn's voice barely peeks over the snowdrift. Jahn and his fellow producer Jonas Meyer don't sound as if they're hindered by their reliance on lo-fi techniques - what might be overdone is approached with subtlety, and their songwriting floats to the top every time. Just check the nostalgic 'Duet' with its Czech New Wave-style keys, or the early Mogwai-like closer 'Im Fluge'. Quite lovely.