Ghia - Tender Rain (Black Vinyl)

Ghia – Tender Rain continues The Outer Edge’s rediscovery of the German group’s remarkable archive, following the warmly received This Is and Curacao Blue collections. Drawn largely from recordings made in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the album brings together previously unreleased vocal songs and instrumentals that sit between street soul, downtempo jazz, dream pop, ambient music and the emerging language of trip hop.

The title track establishes the album’s atmosphere with smooth jazz harmonies, understated electronic programming and Lisa Ohm’s clear, expressive voice. Originally issued only on CD in 1993 through guitarist Ulli Bögershausen’s Mikado label, it was developed from MIDI and Tascam pre-production before being completed with live drums and percussion. That combination of programmed structure and human performance runs through the collection. “Teardrops In Your Eyes” and “New Love” lean toward soulful pop, while the Dark Spirits Mix of “What’s Your Voodoo?” creates a darker, more nocturnal mood.

The instrumental pieces reveal another side of Ghia. “Auf unserm grünen Sofa”, “Reise bei Nacht” and “Was ich Dir noch sagen wollte” combine gentle piano lines with ambient and new-age textures, giving the music a meditative quality without losing its rhythmic pull. “Und recken ihre schlanken Glieder” was composed for a Mikado synchronization project, while “Change Your Sex” brings late-1980s funk and an unusually direct lyric into the sequence.

All tracks are appearing on vinyl here, restored and mastered by Zoey Cairns, with lacquer cutting by Frederic Stader. The LP is presented in a substantial 320g picture sleeve with a hype sticker and a 30 x 30 cm lyric insert. More than thirty years after these recordings were made, their mixture of jazz, soul, electronics and spacious production feels strikingly current. Tender Rain is an essential listen for collectors of downtempo, street soul, proto-trip-hop and privately released European studio music.