Germany has most representatives but this is not a compilation of what could be called Krautrock, though it could pass for one of music made in its currents or slipstream. The less familiar include Lundsten, Robert Julian Horky (from Austria), Ariel Kalma (France), Francesco Messina (Italy) and Enno Velthuys (The Netherlands). The Microcosm exists in a less cut-and-dried world, circumstances made all-too clear in the booklet's introductory essay which notes “at least one artist on this collection made it known they would not take part in any project describing their music as ‘New Age’.” The text goes on to discuss musics tagged as ambient, cosmic, Neuzeit (modern time) or visionary and states “the hope here is to unify the streams.”Īsh Ra Tempel, Popul Vuh, Rodelius and Vangelis are the (again, relatively) everyday names collected. That, though, largely began as an American phenomenon and had a path which could be (relatively) easily delineated. The Microcosm is the follow-up to 2013’s I am the Center, the benchmark exercise in defining and tracking new age music.

Crucially, 1982 saw Lundsten release an album titled The New Age. The synthesisers sound like distant wind chimes, flutes and the glass harmonica. True to the collection’s title, it's a drifting, meditative mood piece eschewing overt melody and rhythm. Lundsten’s “Bön 5 – “Förlåt oss våra skulder” (Prayer 5 – Forgive us our Debts) from the 1972 album Fadervår (Our Father) features on the new 16-track compilation The Microcosm: Visionary Music of Continental Europe 1970–1986. Lundsten (born 1936) began making music for soundtracks in the 1950s and has issued at least 38 albums.

Microcosm album