Fennesz

Bécs (2014) ...

Christian Fennesz's 'abstract pop' ...latest album on Editions Mego is a follow-up to 'Endless Summer' ...

The Liar ... 

Bécs (full album) ... 

For his new record, Fennesz has returned to both the label and the style that provided that 2001 breakthrough. Even if Bécs hadn’t been positioned as an Endless Summer sequel, the connection to the earlier work would have been clear. Rather than serving as texture, the strummed guitars play changes to accompany melodies. The drones and fractured processing are twinkly and bright, instead of dour and foreboding. Once again, Fennesz proves a master of this approach. The acoustic strumming in “Static Kings” sounds impossibly delicate and naïve next to the swirly vortex of the drone accompanying it; the deep organ pedals of “Pallas Athene” bring to mind a vast expanse that stretches to the horizon; the harshness of the distortion on the title track walks a tightrope between oceanic envelopment and repellant destruction. The closing “Paroles” brings it back full circle with possibly the most naked acoustic playing to appear on a Fennesz record, as processing seems to cling to random notes like a burr before being flicked off with the next note. The sense of composition and sound design is strong, and these tracks complement each other and make a coherent whole even if no two sound the same... pitchfork.com