Harald Sack Ziegler and Frank Schültge Blumm have held their unstamped soundkite into the winds for almost five years – which is longer than ever before. On their new album "Returns", it has finally landed, precisely and accurately – as usual. For the predecessor "Kind Kind" (staubgold 42 CD/LP, 2003), Sack & Blumm had employed the postal service to bridge the distance between Cologne and Berlin by sending "musical" letters. For "Returns" contrary to their usual practice they sat side by side in front of their recording equipment in Berlin to be able to communicate their musical ideas more directly then their previous musical long-distance relationship had allowed them. And although Harald Sack Ziegler has again made whole boys choirs pale by comparison with his most recent solo album "Punkt" (staubgold 59 CD, 2005) and FS Blumm has recently entered into a conversation with female voices in his Old Splendifolia and "Bobby & Blumm" projects, "Returns" is – again – an album without any vocals. But they do tell stories. Sack & Blumm present a very autonomous, unpretentious music; music which caters to no audience and which is vaguely reminiscent of the kind of music children play, but which never attempts to emulate their naïveté, as the subtle virtuosity with which they play their instruments informs the listener. They’re not so much playful as they are receptive in their play, always willing and prepared to follow their ears, which hear music in all kinds of noises. Sack & Blumm give each other a lot of space. Within these spaces, their instruments meet, mostly without the disguise of effects. And just like the drops on the cover designed by Eric "E*Rock" Mast (head of the Audio Dregs label) are not just a display of themselves but seem to present a microscopic viewing of something underneath them, the compositions of Sack & Blumm are also apt to be acoustic amplifiers of minutest soundscapes, to serve as magnifying glasses for extremely delicate musical processes and events. And there are quite a lot of these on "Returns". Seven guest musicians left their traces on the 23 tracks. Yet, these have a more composed structure and are a lot clearer than the music on their two previous albums "Shy Noon" and "Kind Kind". Elaborately arranged fabrics of percussion (which you can hear on "Toe Naruto", which is also a good place to start listening to the album); the interplay of a many-voiced horns with trunks, doors, guitars, pianos, elastophones and unobtrusive electronica; a melody triggering fleeting memories of a western (in "Psyduck Moon"); breathing sound loops and the single beat at the end of "Mac Grumpig", which comes just when you stopped waiting for it – all of this does not add up to a randomly assembled jigsaw of sounds. Instead, it is a kite which was released and steered by safe and steady hands, and which inhabits the winds of all climate zones.