Translated from German

As an OKEY reviewer for new organ CD releases for many years, I have come across a lot of amazing things. But sometimes I am still honestly surprised. This is once again the case with Andreas Hellkvist’s album “Quadraphonic”. This album represents a unique experiment in sounds. The organist recorded it solo on his Hammond B 3. This time he deliberately dispensed with the otherwise usual drum accompaniment. This results in pure organ sound, and that is of course wonderful, but that alone is not the sensation. What is special is that he has set up four (1) Leslie cabinets around his organ. Each Leslie can be controlled individually, so that new sound worlds are constantly created that would not be possible with just one or two Leslies. Hellkvist accordingly brings a wide spectrum of sound effects, with beats, spherical sounds and reverb variations. His experimental sound installations come into their own and “Quadraphonic” lives up to its title. One example is the track “Caverns”, where the listener is immersed in the depths, where the reverb dominates and where you can occasionally hear a distant demonic hum. The sound experience is completely different with “Space Birds”. Here, percussive, very hectic, almost nervous playing is the order of the day. “Down to Earth”, on the other hand, sounds exactly as you would imagine this title, with a strong key click. The fact that the physical sound carrier is currently only available in Blu-ray format is also not exactly commonplace, but it does meet the requirements of the special recording technology. A suitable monitoring system must therefore be available in order to be able to enjoy the spatial sound experience.