Harmonia

Harmonia is a German rock group formed in 1973 by Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius of Cluster with Michael Rother of Neu!. It works in krautrock, electronic, progressive electronic, progressive rock, ambient, experimental and psychedelic music, and is closely associated with the Krautrock and kosmische scene. The group is active between 1973 and 1976.

Formation and early work

Harmonia begins as a side project for Roedelius, Moebius and Rother after the first two have already recorded two studio albums as Cluster. Roedelius and Moebius move to the German countryside and build their own studio in the village of Forst. Rother, after trying to expand Neu! into a live band, joins them there for a run of relaxed, improvisational sessions that combine Cluster’s exploratory space music with Rother’s motorik rhythms and guitar style.

Studio albums and sessions

The group’s debut album, Musik Von Harmonia, appears in 1974 and includes a live track recorded in Amsterdam. Harmonia follows it with De Luxe in 1975. Brian Eno later describes the group as “the world’s most important rock group” and joins them for sessions in 1976. The recordings from those sessions remain unreleased for more than twenty years before Tracks & Traces is issued by Rykodisc.

Later activity

After Harmonia’s original period, Cluster and Eno continue to work together in the late 1970s, while Rother starts a solo career with Flammende Herzen in 1977. Harmonia reunites in 2007 after the release of Live 1974, which documents a concert at Penny Station Club in Griessem, Germany, on 23 March 1974. Rother, Roedelius and Moebius then perform live as Harmonia for the first time since 1976, opening the Worldtronics Festival at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin on 27 November 2007.

Festival appearances

The group’s later live appearances include its first UK concert on 18 April 2008 at the opening night of the Ether Festival in the Queen Elizabeth Hall at Southbank Centre, London. It also headlines the final day of the Supersonic Festival in Birmingham in July 2008. Other appearances include All Tomorrow’s Parties in the UK in May 2008, Numusic in Stavanger, Norway, an ATP edition curated by My Bloody Valentine in New York in September 2008, and the Australian ATP series curated by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in January 2009.