Best known as one half of the innovative German electronic duo Mouse on Mars, Jan St. Werner also pursued a solo career as Lithops and under his own name. He began releasing solo music in the mid-’90s (around the time of his collaboration with Markus Popp as Microstoria), and through a series of 7 records he has innovated and explored the boundaries of electronic music. Werner’s latest album, Squares Will Fall, began in 2012 as an electronic composition lasting exactly thirty minutes, created to mark the thirtieth birthday of a friend. Over time, the piece continued to evolve, eventually forming the foundation for an improvisation by Justin Vernon and Jan St. Werner during Mouse on Mars’s Dimensional People sessions at Vernon’s studio in Wisconsin. In 2021, “Squares Will Fall” assumed a new form as a multidirectional loudspeaker choreography created for the Ural Industrial Biennial. Three independent layers of the composition were transmitted through loudspeakers suspended via long ropes from the circus ceiling and were continuously repositioned by the performers. In 2026, Werner completed Squares Will Fall and created the first stereo mix at Mouse on Mars’s Paraverse Studios. Andi Toma (Mouse on Mars) joined the final mixing sessions, contributing bass elements that subtly expanded the work’s sonic depth. The resulting stereo version brings together more than a decade of transformations, preserving the piece’s open, cut up character while translating its spatial and performative origins into a form suitable for focused listening. Taken together as an album, the songs are a joyous musical adventure. Understanding the complexity of the songs origins is not required; as with all that he does, Werner’s love of music and collaboration shines through in this inventive boundless listen.
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