Instrumental, atmospheric tales of the unexpected.
Pretty Lightning are a German band formed back in 2007 by Christian Berhoff and Sebastian Haas. ‘Night Wobble’ is their sixth full-length album following the 2022 ‘Dust Moves’ and it is their second fully instrumental offering. With thirteen tracks and lasting forty minutes, it takes either a lot of listening to, or it can be something to put on in the background. Pretty Lightning themselves describe ‘Night Wobble‘ as the soundtrack to an imaginary walk through a dark wood that conjures up all the mysterious images and sounds this sort of excursion would bring. The music is both repetitive and distorted at the same time, constantly sounding slightly off-key, with the beat notes marking the pace of footsteps as they walk through the arboreal landscape.
Pretty Lightning’s influences include 60s Psych, Delta Blues, Krautrock, and Drone, the latter of which is definitely to the fore on ‘Night Wobble’. There appears to be very little light or shade almost relentless, and Spaghetti Western themes seem very prevalent. It would be very easy to see Quentin Tarantino using a number of these tracks to build up a foreboding atmosphere. Something that somehow puts you off your stride and feels disturbing.
Track Six ‘Glade Runner’ is the first single from the record. Pretty Lightning say: “It marks the middle of the journey. The traveller will have already encountered muddy ditches and made it through the rather earthy part of the walk. Now you are in the glade and just about to reach the portal from where we take off or sneak even deeper into the forest, you never know….”
‘Night Wobble’ is an album for the listener whose imagination can take them to some very far-off and fascinating places indeed. Maybe with a little assistance.
