Force Majeure

Force Majeure is an uplifting suite of real, soulful comfort music – an album that cathartically encapsulates an all-too-familiar human experience of 2020. Featuring 11 pieces performed by bassist Dezron Douglas & harpist Brandee Younger across a series of live-streamed shows from their living room in Harlem, NY, the album was self-recorded by the duo using just a single microphone.

After Steve Jolliffe had left the group, Edgar Froese and Chris Franke recorded the album "Force Majeure", originally issued on transparent vinyl. Klaus Krüger played drums again before changing to the band of Iggy Pop.
Following "Stratosfear", the album developed Tangerine Dream's further evolution toward the more melodic sound they would adopt in the 1980s. For example, "Cloudburst Flight", is more of the tradition of progressive rock than the band's 1970s output of Berlin School.
"Force Majeure" was critically acclaimed and went Top 30 in the UK. Up to now this album is one of the most famous among Tangerine Dream fans.

Although Tangerine Dream is usually associated with synthesizers and the ambient movement that followed over a decade after such albums as Phaedra, Stratosfear, and Rubycon were recorded, Force Majeure shows the band displaying its roots in space rock. This time around, guitar and drums (played by Klaus Krieger) are as prominent as the keyboards. As the name would appear to indicate, the music on the album doesn't seem played so much as propelled forward, the overall pace rarely slackening for long. The title track is a suite that incorporates several distinct themes that segue into a cohesive whole via musical bridges. "Cloudburst Flight" is really an excuse for Edgar Froese to display his virtuosity on the electric six-string, which he does with amazing intensity…

Born amidst the gathering of enslaved Africans in New Orleans’ Congo Square, and nurtured in nightclubs, and festivals around the world, jazz is by nature a public, social music. For Harlem-based harp and bass duo Brandee Younger and Dezron Douglas, Covid-19 and the lockdown of public spaces challenged them to find a way to continue to connect with audiences and each other as instrumentalists.

Force Majeure is the twelfth album by the German group Tangerine Dream, originally issued on transparent vinyl. Following Stratosfear, the album developed Tangerine Dream's further evolution toward the more melodic sound they would adopt in the 1980s, with a heavier presence of guitars, drums and distinct musical suites in the tradition of progressive rock, rather than the band's 1970s output of Berlin School.