In ignorance of everything synth-revival, here's to-- what I would say-- the most organic album of the year: Fennel's A Leap Across A Chasm. Fennel is the project of Franciscus Rebro, who describes his debut as a tribute to both the campus of the University of Santa Barbara and the late Danielle Baquet-Long of Celer. The two subjects went hand-in-hand, in that Danielle Baquet-Long attended UCSB not long before Fennel. A Leap Across A Chasm is meant to encompass the feel of UCSB, by incorporating field recordings from all around its campus.
The album's organic nature doesn't rely solely on its found sound, however; instruments including piano, flute, vocals, glockenspiel and guitar subtly find their way into the recordings. Though they don't serve as the main part of the music, they slowly pulsate throughout the album, alluding to their presence. The music and the recordings fit perfectly together: the tones of water dripping and frogs croaking coupled with the slow, reverberated fades sets the environment almost perfectly. The only instant A Leap Across A Chasm delves into electronic territory is on "Fabricating Memories" which features glitchy, digital chirps that overcome the field recordings.
Though a compelling listen for the most part, I feel that this album lacks any kind of definitive quality that sets it apart from its contemporaries like Kyle Bobby Dunn and Black To Comm. Then again-- taking into account that this is both a debut album, and available on a pay-what-you-want setup thanks to Bandcamp, A Leap Across A Chasm is certainly worth the listen.
[Fennel's explanation of the album]
[Buy/download A Leap Across A Chasm from Bandcamp]
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