Martin Kohlstedt: Feld

German composer, piano and keyboard player Martin Kohlstedt wriggles his way through the alley separating ambient and neo-classical on his new album Feld. He loves a challenge, zooming in on a motif, and adding a bunch of fluttering notes on top of it to add dabs of color to his musical canvas. On his latest album Feld ("field") he branches out even further, throwing in sounds he recorded during his hikes.

Kohlstedt shows patience and restraint on the 12 tracks, operating within his self-imposed limitations - a rhythm loop, a chord sequence - but he always finds a way to surprise the listener, whether it is a foray into post-punk meeting post-rock in DIA or grounding a track by a rumbling undertow in OHM. He is like a chef who has gone back to basics to cook a full-course meal.

After the album has finished playing, it is probably best to take a break before moving on, and take some time contemplate the sonic richness of the tracks and dexterity of a composer to write a semi-continuous collection of pieces of music, wherein the tracks are linked beautifully to create a Gesamtkunstwerk that is his best work yet.