Deus Arrakis


Deus Arrakis is the forty-seventh album by Klaus Schulze. It was released on 1 July 2022. It is the final album Schulze made before he died of renal failure in April 2022. Taking in consideration the previously released multi-disc box sets, it could be viewed as Schulze's one hundred and eighth album.
The album was inspired by the 1965 Frank Herbert science-fiction novel Dune and instigated by Schulze's recent collaboration with Hans Zimmer on the soundtrack for Denis Villeneuve's 2021 film adaptation. Dune was a longtime source of fascination for Schulze; he also made an album in 1979 inspired by the book, as well as a song for Herbert on his 1978 work X, a concept album of six "musical biographies".

Reception

Steve Krakow of the Chicago Reader said that Schulze sounded "newly energized" on Deus Arrakis and praised the "pure-synth space daze" of the music, which includes several long, ambient soundscapes including the 32-minute "Seth". He called the album's closing composition, "Der Hauch des Lebens", a "fitting epitaph" for an artist who knew that he was dying while working on this music: "To appreciate the slowly unfolding sonic colors of this visionary, atmospheric piece, you need patience, but your effort is well rewarded. Like any journey, whether in sci-fi or in life, it moves between realms of pure bliss and darker terrain."
Ludovic Hunter-Tilney of the Financial Times wrote that the album's "three lengthy instrumentals are a masterclass in old-fashioned cosmic music".
Henry Schneider of the website Exposé Online praised the album highly, calling it Schulze's "best release in decades, if not his entire career.... Deus Arrakis is a wonderful posthumous achievement for the father of electronic music."

Track listing

All tracks composed by Klaus Schulze.

Personnel