Mosaic

Christian Fennesz established a daily working routine in order to create 2019s Agora, a stripped-down effort recorded in the Viennese artists flat in lieu of a proper recording studio. After changing studio spaces several more times, he returned to this production schedule for his first solo album in five years, starting with improvisation and continuing to shape and develop ideas on a daily basis until the record was finished. Described as his most reflective work yet, Mosaic combines expansive, multi-layered textural waves with subtly complex rhythmic explorations. The unspeakably beautiful "Heliconia" begins the album with a rich, fathoms-deep swell of melancholic chords, bells, and rushing electronics, eventually segueing into knocking noises and more intimate notes that sound like theyre being slowly plucked on a banjo, then processed into the ether. "Love and the Framed Insects" is an instant flashback to Endless Summers wistful, Pet Sounds-inspired melodies, filtered through tinny ring modulators and doused with noisy flashes. Its 7/4 time signature, which might not be apparent unless youre really paying attention, elevates the songs noirish mood, adding a suspenseful undercurrent. "Personare" introduces itself with a noisy splash of decayed fuzz, which ends up being cycled into a melted dub techno rhythm, momentarily detouring into glorious washes of static. Surprisingly, the track is said to be inspired by 1980s West African pop music. Fennesz transforms unexpected influences in another way during "Goniorizon," which began when he layered six hard rock guitar riffs on top of each other. This soon transformed into something vastly different, and in its final form, it sounds like a prismatic glimmer that gradually shifts, clusters, and mutates. Like much of Fenneszs solo work from Endless Summer onward, Mosaic is a vast, immersive effort that bases its abstract soundscapes in raw emotions. ~ Paul Simpson

前作の時点で確立していた9時から17時の作業ルーティンのもと、タイトル通り音の素材を一つずつ配置して全体を形作っていくという、これまでとは異なる手法が試みられた、5年半ぶり8作目。6つのギター・リフをミックスして美しいノイズの塔を築き上げた"Goniorizon"など、ミュージシャンという枠を越えて〈音の建築家〉であることを証明しているようだ。
bounce (C)野村有正

タイトルは先に決まっていたというフェネスの5年半ぶりの新作『モザイク』。フラグメントとその集合体を示す言葉だが、アルバムのタイトルとしてだけでなく、収録された楽曲全体にそのイメージが踏襲されている。たくさんの細かな音が現れては交差し、ひとつの形をなしたと思えば大きなうねりとなって変化する、そんなアルバムだ。これまでのフェネスの音楽性はそのままに、ただこれまで以上に広大な空間が眼前に広がってくる。ジャケットのような渺茫とした、しかし音風景としてはやや荒涼としたトーンを帯びている。全7曲が全く違う音風景を見させてくれる秀作。
intoxicate (C)金子雄樹