Markus Reuter and Stefano Castagna – Sky on the Ground (2025)
Markus Reuter and Stefano Castagna have released Sky on the Ground, a follow-up to their instrumental collaboration Sea of Hopeless Angels. The new album draws on Reuter’s extensive personal archive, with performances spanning 1998 through 2025 that Castagna reshaped and gave structure to the pieces with bass, programming, and keyboards. The result is a set of inventive progressive rock amalgamated with ambient electronic atmospheres.
Vocals entered the partnership for the first time. Spellbinding processed voices via vocoders and Auto-Tune sit alongside masterfully crafted instrumental pieces. Reuter adds harmonium, glockenspiel, and acoustic guitars (nylon- and steel-string), aiming for music that is harmonically direct and uplifting yet compositionally complex.
One piece traces back to an improvisation with Berlin-based drummer Merlin Ettore; a later listen led Reuter to sketch a melody and lyrics that helped set the album’s vocal direction. Reuters’ illness affected parts of the writing and mixing sessions, which the duo credit with sharpening the record’s emotional focus.
Influence touchpoints include My Life in the Bush of Ghosts and Brian Eno’s Another Day on Earth, with an overarching concept of magical realism. Work on the project began in September 2024.
Buy Sky on the Ground.