In december 2004 schraum releases the debut-album of rant, titled seumsund / sundseum. rant focuses on the combination of very close and direct duo-playing with forms and patterns of pop-music. To Merle Ehlers and Torsten Papenheim rant means to realize their personal idea of writing and playing songs. Pop-music without a pop-band. seumsund / sundseum is a collection of those special pieces for guitar and drums.
The duo creates a type of meta-music; pieces that reference and deconstruct song forms. The eight pieces float by, toying with pulse-based momentum, the muted details of electro-acoustics, and intimate dialogs. Ehlers and Papenheim have put together a release that is well worth checking out by adventurous listeners.
Cadence Magazine (USA)
Close-up early morning Polaroids, tracks capturing an experimentally tinged outlook, detail contemplated and included as central.... The unanswered question of noveau naiveness as understood by the next generation.
Modisti (Spain)
Melodic, jazzy and abstract, right? I've heard somebody calls it "cool" and why not?! Let's say it can be cool but with a soft indie-rock attitude...hey!?!...Indie-rock? Jazz? Abstract? Ok, I'll try to describe the cocktail by saying Mazzacane Connors has joined the ranks of Bedhead, they all went jazzy and went for a solitary lane that every once in a while gets crossed by Jeff Muller before June of '44 became more fusion. Winter melancholia for winter snapshots.
Chain D.L.K. (Italy)
rant strips down the notion of popmusic to the bare essentials.
Vital Weekly (Netherlands)
Ich hatte dieses Album beim ersten Mal hören als Hintergrundmusik laufen und war eigentlich auf etwas Anderes konzentriert. Aber immer wieder erweckt es die Aufmerksamkeit; völlig unaufdringlich und leise, aber doch so schlicht-schön. Man muss einfach aufhorchen und ein bisschen loslassen. Loslassen – so klingt die Musik des Berliner Duos rant nämlich auch.
skug (Austria)