Martin Kohlstedt - Kluft (2026) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. CON
02. VEU
03. RAH
04. RAI
05. MEA
06. KID
07. PLU
08. SON
09. YOR
10. GLI
11. DRI
12. MEM

He has long since outgrown neoclassical music and has been dedicated to electronic music for years: Kohlstedt is one of the rare global spearheads of artists who manage to intuitively find a common form for influences from such different worlds and create a living body from them - as a spectacular festival show, an introspective piano concert, a multidimensional film soundtrack or an immersive album experience. Kohlstedt has already collaborated with the GewandhausChor Leipzig, with artists such as Ben Böhmer, Douglas Dare, Sudan Archives and Henrik Schwarz as well as with labels such as Warner Classics, plays concerts in over 30 countries and runs his own label, Edition Kohlstedt.

Kluft, the seventh album by this exceptional German artist, is just such an experience. Kohlstedt has never been closer to song and concrete composing. In German, Kluft not only describes the space between rocks, but also a deep and sharply drawn contrast between things and people - and thus the undefined spaces in between, non-places. Kohlstedt searches for precisely these liminal spaces and fills them with music: tracks in transition between two aggregate states, tipping points where things start rolling, the moment when the brain switches from conscious to unconscious.

Kluft carries a deep melancholy, combined with an honest amazement and a rarely heard combination of compositional quality and a feel for melodies and narrative arcs. The elaborate production sets standards in how electronic with analog and acoustic elements come together to create an impressive sounding album - recorded in the home studio in Weimar as well as in Cologne and Berlin, mixed and mastered by Mark Bihler (Calyx), complemented by strings from Valerie Hartling (viola) and Emelie Steinmetz (cello).