About

It was with the debut of Electric Fields in the Berghain Kantine venue, that the trio embarked on their mission to fuse electronic music with real instruments in a live setting -- the sounds being created right there on stage. With a huge arsenal of analogue synthesisers, e-pianos, and a complex multi-percussion setup, Johannes Motschmann, Boris Bolles and David Panzl travel between worlds, performing as often in clubs as in classical concert halls. Electric Fields is a soundtrack that ranges from quiet piano sounds to hard, polyrhythmic beats, and where ambient noises and drones alternate with delicate orchestral lines.

After Johannes and Boris found an old Wurlitzer electric piano in the cellar of their student house, the boys continued to search for new instruments, which years later would give Electric Fields its unique sound and form. Central to its sound are the Wurlitzer piano and the CP-70, which, along with the bass lines of the Moog Prodigy and MS-20, build the harmonic foundations of the music. A distinctive retro vibe is undoubtedly apparent as a result of the fact that almost all the instruments hail from the 70s and 80s.

David takes rhythms that were designed on drum machines and rejuvenates them with new life, while Boris uncovers delicate, lyrical lines on the violin that bring clarity and wholeness to the rhythms and arrangements. All that was machine-controlled now lies in the hands of these three classically trained musicians, who, with the highest degree of precision, make Johannes’s meticulously notated compositions sound as symphonic as if you were listening not to an electro-acoustic trio, but to an entire orchestra.