With its sombering, yet mournful arrangements that is put together by Francis Cofone and Markus Reuter, the collaboration seemed like a very interesting one. But the chemistry they have together, it’s a very good one.
It all started back in May of 2025 when Cofone came to Berlin to record his second album at Hansa Studios, the same studio where bands and artist like David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Tangerine Dream, Depeche Mode, Marillion, Blood Incantation, and the Manic Street Preachers recorded their albums at the famous studio, Markus lend Frankie a helping hand to produce the sessions that you have in your hand.
During that day, Cofone recorded at least three hours of solo music which were spacey, ambient, and beautiful. When it got dark, both of them realize they had an hour left at the studio. That was the moment when Markus saw a vintage ARP Solina String Ensemble tucked away in the corner. When Markus saw that, he knew this was going to be something special.
Mind you, this was the first time Markus played a real Solina. The result is The Solina Record. An album of an amazing session, built upon by accident, and it takes you into a place with unbelievable worlds the duo has landed upon. You probably have heard the ARP String Ensemble which incorporates; violin, trumpet, horn, cello, and contrabass, also using an organ style, divided-down technology by making it polyphonic.
Musicians have used the ensemble. Ranging from Rick Wright of Pink Floyd, Kerry Livgren of Kansas, Dennis DeYoung of Styx, Elton John, George Harrison, Parliament Funkadelic, Brian Eno, and French duo Air. So, for Reuter to use the Solina, it makes it a very meditated guidance to clear your head and clear out, all of the bad things that go through your mind during these tricky times we went through in 2025.
‘Awaken Sound’, ‘Liminal Space’ and ‘When We Reach the Top’ may be built upon the same droning and futuristic texture, but Cofone and Reuter blend in this dark, ominous, sublime view of a city set in the 23rd century that is empty and abandoned. You feel as if you are walking in this deserted ghost town, stepping into an episode of The Twilight Zone, not knowing of what the hell is happening before stepping into the worlds of Klaus Schulze, Vangelis, and the Zeit-era from Tangerine Dream.
‘Devotion’ has this eerie, yet surreal dystopian futuristic landscape in the year 2039, similar to the 1982 classic Blade Runner where upon the duo honour the late, great Greek composer in all of its glory to reveal the landscape of Los Angeles in that time frame before walking into the cavernous, turned ambient look of wonders of the crystallite cave on the ‘Inner Turmoil’.
Then, its back to the world of Bowie’s Low period with a bit of Frippertronics, coming into the forefront with ‘What Was That?’. Right off the bat, you feel the loneliness, the sense of loss, being trapped on an isolated planet with no return home, and you can feel the duo writing this for the Thin White Duke during the time he was doing his first full-length motion picture as an actor in the 1976 cult film, The Man Who Fell to Earth.
It’s a wonderful appreciation that Cofone and Reuter have landed upon with The Solina Record. But with its nod to not just the Berlin School of Music, it gives us the satisfaction and imaginative wonders we have just witness to make it worth the trip alone.
