[Story]

Both aesthetically and in popularity, Audio Werner is a producer perhaps best described as a known unknown. Throughout a career that’s seen the Cologne-based Andreas Werner release for a range of well respected labels such as Perlon, Hartchef Discos and Hello?Repeat, he’s avoided settling into a single style of house music and more often written for the circumstances. While these shifts may have thrown off those not following him closely, his fans could reasonably anticipate quality tracks wherever and whenever they saw release. After the Meanwhile 2×12″ for Hartchef Discos, his longest work to date, Werner closed 2010 with an EP for the Story imprint.

Despite its creator’s unpredictable nature, Story#005 is a record which quickly identifies as the work of Werner. The prolific, garage-influenced interplay between his snare and hi-hat patterns is familiar and constant throughout, often in the service of subdued progressions. In “Feel About,” organ tones slosh merrily from side-to-side as Werner gradually builds and unfolds a vocal sample promising to “change the way you feel about” an undefined subject. Muted eighth notes rise and fall in “Return,” offering few changes besides the sharpness of their focus and the minute accompaniments gurgling beneath. Featuring similar elements arranged in unexpectedly lovely ways, the Chicago-inspired “Guteaussichten” (roughly “Good Outlook”) glows as its rich organ chords flare and fade like sunspots, leaving walking bass notes and gentle synth leads to fill out the frequency range. So while Story#005 finds Audio Werner working well within his comfort zone, a track like “Guteaussichten” testifies to how fertile that territory remains.