Lunz is the dual collaborative effort of composers, Hans Joachim Roedelius (formerly of German 70s space-rock outfit Cluster) and Tim Story – the American soundtrack composer. The sleevenotes draw an immediate compliment from Brian Eno – who calls Roedelius a “true original of modern music”, the scene is set.

The track Lunz opens with a soothing piano loop, backed with gentle strings until further melodic piano is introduced. Emotive violins weave into view; the moody ambience conjured up is almost impossibly impressive. Clue is perhaps even better; more sprinkled piano, whispy ghost-synths – the arrangement is spotless, and the melodic tones consume you in a cocoon of serenity. The theme becomes more abstract on the spacey calm of Under Mars We Were - no less ethereal in its beauty, followed by the honky tonk piano tones of Dew Climbs, which quiver and tremble under the own fragility, superimposed by further melodic riffs that are again truly beautiful – the notes are so expressive and mesmerisingly arranged, communicating emotions that frequently switch between the unknown amd the familiar.

Carnickel and Pocketboat takes this temperament one step further, the absence of lyrics forcing the mind to once again invoke a myriad of panoramas; there is a subject matter inferred by Roedelius & Story’s instrumentals that leave you in complete wonderment. Something Happened Here is another stunning track, the lonely piano tones and enveloping strings sing from the same songsheet with a delerious romanticism here. Wobbly Flu Twilight introduces echoey birdsong samples to accentuate its mood, by far the darkest song on the album, which closes with a series of further calmly reflective ambient tracks, Cloud Pull being another standout – although there are no average tracks on disc one. Yes, that’s right, disc one!

Disc two gives the ambient glow of the main album a much more experimental electronica edge; immediately apparent on the Alias remix of Clue, which supplies a sumptuously triggered breakbeat to bolster the track’s ergonomic, blissed out calm. This remix disc doesn’t flow as naturally as the main album, naturally so considering the diversity of the contributors and the frequent inclusion of vocal arrangements, which breaks up the album’s structure. However, there are some corkers on the remix disc too, such as Faultline’s remix of the title track, which is also given a thorough reworking by Adem, who adds his own vocal arrangement with variable success. Ironically, the modern day glory boy of ambient, Ulrich Schnauss is a little below par on his own mix of Lunz – this sounds a little too Schnauss-by-numbers for me, and its perhaps the first time that I have noticed his own richly unique style requiring a fresh production angle.

Meanwhile, the heavily percussive smorgasbord of clicks and samples that sachet Icarus’ remix of Murmuring Mermaids is a low point of the disc – it’s too avant garde for this album and just doesn’t sit right, whilst the Half Cousin remix of Dew Climbs also sounds uncomfortable, with a new vocal arrangement dumped lazily over the virtually untouched original.

Thankfully, quality is restored on Alquimia’s Luz Aeterna Remix of Wobbly Flu Tonight, which perfectly judges the mood of the song, adding some sublime gregorian female vocals that clamour around the original as if subjecting it to a doomed watery grave. Millenia Nova then produces an exceptional remix of Carnickle and Pocketboat, using beautifully accredited plucked guitar and percussive elements to forge the track an insanely addictive contemporary rock edge. Pure magic.

Despite these highlights, I wouldn’t go overboard on my praise of the remix disc, but it does throw enough new angles on the overall package to make its inclusion worthwhile, and there is always the untainted original album to fall back on. Reinterpretations is a remarkable CD, the main disc is already a very strong contender for album of the year – its neo-classical ambience, mixed with a contemporary electronic edge will take some beating. Ignore at your peril.