Fennesz - Field Recordings 1995:2002
(Touch)
Although the title and rustic Jon Wozencroft photography that adorn the
digipack might suggest a new Fennesz record in the same vein as the
microtonal textures of Plus Forty Seven Degrees, what one gets is a
roundup of compilation tracks, remixes, soundtrack contributions, a
remaster of the long out of print Instrument (his debut EP), and one
new track.
The disc opens with the latter, "Good Man", a track along Endless Summer
lines; nimble percussion is interspersed with chords swathed in glitches
and pops. The cornerstone of this compilation, the Instrument EP,
immediately follows. Each track strips one layer from the previous track
until all that's left is a quiet guitar piece under a digital layer:
looped guitar riffs accompanied by a harsh throbbing beat ("Instrument 1"),
piano cutting gently through the din ("2"), jittery percussion ("3").
The remainder of the disc is attentively sequenced, which makes it stand
out from the usual mixed-bag nature of rarities compilations—the longer
tracks 6 through 8 are mirrored by the short tracks 9 through 12.
"Betrieb" (track 6) is one of the two remixes of Ekkehard Ehlers compositions
(the other is the last track on the album, "Codeine", a remix of the
Ehlers/Mathieu composition "Heroin"); both are gorgeous drone pieces
combining their classical meditative mood with bursts of electronic
static.
The rest is varying in quality: "Menthol" (from the Clicks + Cuts 2
compilation on Mille Plateaux) is a nice amalgam of gurgling
synthesizers, "Surf" (Decay on Ash International) is a foray into shoegazing,
"Stairs" (Blue Moon soundtrack) uses a lot of pedal trickery coupled with a
piano undercurrent, "Ivendoo" (rkk13 CD on Reckankreuzungsklankewerkzeuge)
is glitchy eerie electronics, "Namewithnohorse" is an uninteresting
deconstruction of America's "Horse With No Name" guitar riffs and chords,
and "Odessa" is a short ambient piece.
One can only hope that other rarities (Sounds.ra, Il Libro Mio, the
collaboration with Rosy Parlane, and countless others) from the prolific
Fennesz will find a similar good home, perhaps on another compilation in another seven years time.
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