Let There Be Light
When kosmiche pioneer Michael Rother embarked on a two-day drive from Germany to Italy to spend time with his partner, Vittoria Maccabruni, he had no idea that a sparkling new album would be the result. The couple tell Prog how As Long As The Light brought hope during dark times with a little help from David Lynch’s filmography.
Words: Julian Marszalek
Vittoria Maccabruni and Michael Rother lighten the mood.
Images: Marina Arienzale
“It’s an interesting point.”
Michael Rother pauses
mid-flow as he stops to
compare the working
methods of Harmonia – the
kosmische ‘supergroup’ he formed with
Cluster’s Hans-Joachim Roedelius and
Dieter Moebius in 1973 – and the
composition and construction of
As Long As The Light, the new album
that he’s just released with his life
partner and new musical collaborator,
Vittoria Maccabruni. For whether he
consciously intended it or not, the
similarities between the projects are
difficult to ignore.
Lest we forget, guitarist Michael Rother is a true pioneer. Now aged 71, but looking at least 10 years younger, he’s best known for his idiosyncratic work in Neu! with drummer Klaus Dinger, whom he met in an early lineup of Kraftwerk. The pair – alongside bands such as Can, Faust, Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, Popol Vuh and Amon Düül II among others – set about rejecting the orthodoxy of American and British rock music to reclaim and reset contemporary German culture in the wake of the ruins left by the Third Reich.
“It’s very rewarding when somebody brings you ideas on a plate, even if they are very confusing and it’s unclear where the story is going, and then you pick up a nugget.”
Michael Rother
Rother’s two-day journey to visit Maccabruni resulted in an unexpected album.