Monika
2005
Tesri
About This Album
Tesri collects a dozen collaborations by Barbara Morgenstern and Robert Lippok, the latter artist of the post-rock trio To Rococo Rot. Both individuals had formerly recorded for Monika Enterprise, and in 2005 that Berlin label released this album of collaborations. Tesri notably includes two key tracks from an earlier EP Morgenstern and Lippok had released in 2002. Titled Series 500 and released by Domino Records, that EP featured four tracks, each named after a season. "Sommer" and "Winter" are included here, and though they were three years old at the time of Tesri's release, they're highlights of the album and representative of the other inclusions, which likewise are spacious and practically ambient compositions comprised of gentle electronics and quiet instrumentation (i.e., piano, guitar). A few of the tracks include vocals: Morgenstern hums a melody on "Sommer," Mieko Shimizo sings in Japanese on "Kaitusburi" (and momentarily speaks on "Otuskimi"), and Damon Aaron sings in English on "If the Day Remains Unspoken For." Moreover, there are a few roughly minute-long tracks that function as segues. The sum of all this -- the pair of previously released seasonal tracks, the trio of vocal ones, and the interspersed segues -- helps keep Tesri flowing from one idea to the next.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,4,5,6,7 and 11)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.