Progressive Rock
Latency · 13 November 2026
The music Popol Vuh composed for “Die große Ekstase des Bildschnitzers Steiner”, Werner Herzog’s 1974 documentary following Swiss ski flyer and woodcarver Walter Steiner, is out today, 13 November, on Latency (catalogue number LTNC040). According to the label, the score has never been released before. The digital edition lands today, with the vinyl following on 20 November.
The archive material amounts to four pieces, credited to Florian Fricke and Popol Vuh: “Dream of Flight”, “Utter Solitude”, “Steiner’s Ecstasy” and a “Steiner’s Ecstasy (Studio Session)”, running to just over eleven minutes in all. The rest of the record is new: three variations on “Steiner’s Ecstasy” by james K, Lorenzo Senni and ML Buch. The variation by james K, at almost nine minutes, is the longest piece here, and the whole thing doesn’t quite reach half an hour. “Dream of Flight” came out ahead of the album on 25 September, and the james K variation on 16 October.
Creative direction and production are by Souleymane Said, with advice from Johannes Fricke Waldthausen on behalf of the Popol Vuh estate; mastering is by Dubplates & Mastering, design by HelloMe and the liner notes by Karla Clemmensen. The notes recall that Fricke founded Popol Vuh in Munich in 1969, and that the partnership with Herzog began with “Aguirre” (1972) and carried on through “Nosferatu”, “Fitzcarraldo” and “Cobra Verde”.
Text by Guillem Cardós