Perpetuum Mobile (album)

Perpetuum Mobile
Studio album by Einstürzende Neubauten
Released	February 10, 2004
Recorded	August 2002 - June 2003
Genre	Experimental Industrial
Length	66:56
Label	Mute
Producer	Einstürzende Neubauten
Einstürzende Neubauten chronology
Silence Is Sexy (2000) Perpetuum Mobile (2004) Alles wieder offen (2007)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Pitchfork Media	(7.5/10)[2]
The Guardian	[3]

Perpetuum Mobile is an album by Einstürzende Neubauten. It is an offshoot of their first supporters-only recording experiment. It was released with Mute Records, in part to facilitate a world tour.

Track listing

1. “Ich gehe jetzt” – 3:31 [English: "I am going now"]
2. “Perpetuum Mobile” – 13:41
3. “Ein leichtes leises Säuseln” – 4:31
4. “Selbstportrait mit Kater” – 6:12
5. “Boreas” – 3:59
6. “Ein seltener Vogel” – 9:14
7. “Ozean und Brandung” – 3:44
8. “Paradiesseits” – 4:07
9. “Youme & Meyou” – 4:39
10. “Der Weg ins Freie” – 4:04
11. “Dead Friends (Around the Corner)” – 5:14
12. “Grundstück” – 3:41

Themes

Perpetuum Mobile contains overarching references to its namesake perpetuum mobile (the musical term) and to perpetual motion (the physical concept). Other ideas include Boreas, Ararat (of note both for the Einstürzende Neubauten song "Armenia" and Mount Ararat), travel and airplanes, and rare birds.

Notes

Supporters Album #1 ends with "Compressors in the Dark" (the black version of "Ich gehe jetzt") while Perpetuum Mobile begins with the white version of "Ich gehe jetzt", forming another point of continuity for those who have both albums. It is possible that the black version (at the end) is for “leaving to return” or “leaving to go home” and the white version (at the beginning) is in counterpoint as “leaving to go away” or “leaving the house”.

References