Fennesz – Venice 20 (2024) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Fennesz – Venice 20 (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 58:44 minutes | 1,05 GB | Genre: Electronic, Ambient
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Touch

The 20th anniversary re-issue of Fennesz’s best-selling ‘Venice’, originally released in 2004, is now available as a deluxe version remastered by Denis Blackham, with new and extra tracks not on the previous CD or vinyl versions. Included in the DVD-format edition is a booklet with texts by Fennesz himself, Denis Blackham & Jon Wozencroft, with unseen photographs from the original 2004 sessions. The booklet also reproduces David Sylvian’s original handwritten lyrics for ‘Transit’. This “stunning collaboration with David Sylvian continues where their fantastic duo track on Sylvian’s album Blemish left off. Situated directly in the middle of a mostly subdued listening experience, ‘Transit’ literally bursts out of the speakers accentuating the album’s more pop-like characteristics as well as its more restrained moments.”Denis Blackham:
“Fast forward to 2024 and here I am again with the same original master mixes I used in 2003 to make a new and expanded version of the album – Venice 20. A little over twenty years later, technology in audio production, recording and mastering has improved substantially, so I was excited to return to this album and give my 2024 treatment.”

Jon Wozencroft:
“…The whole work has a stillness and a stature that is essentially timeless. This is of course exemplified by the collaboration with David Sylvian on ‘Transit’, which, now 20 years on, has all come true. I hoped the cover art to be on the level of a painting, to endure, like the music. It’s mad because I’d never claim to be able to paint, or assume that photographs can endure as long as paintings can. The work with Christian, which continues, always moves me and above all it’s a chemistry, a feeling you can’t quite put your finger on.”

Christian Fennesz:
“Over months, I collected material for the album: short recordings of acoustic and electric guitars, experiments with newly introduced soft synths and samplers, and field recordings, sometimes done on the go and directly in Venice, where I stayed for several weeks. The sound and acoustics of the city fascinated me. From my room, you could clearly hear conversations at night with the window open, but it was uncertain whether they came from the neighbouring house or several blocks away, as if the sound waves in Venice followed their own rules. It was during this time that the idea for Venice as an album title came to me, as a suggestive description of a dignified decline, decay, death, and rebirth. David Sylvian’s lyrics and vocal performance for ‘Transit’ perfectly encapsulated this idea for me. The piece remains a highlight of a wonderful, ongoing collaboration.”

AllMusic Review by François Couture
Talk about “highly anticipated”: fans of Fennesz had three years to marvel in his Endless Summer CD. Meanwhile, the album became a hit in left-field electronica, exerted a major influence on countless sound-alikes, and even allowed Fennesz to break – however slightly – into the mainstream. Is Venice better than Endless Summer? No, but the fact that it doesn’t disappoint, despite the expectations generated by this bona fide follow-up, is by itself a commanding feat. The reason why Venice doesn’t top its predecessor is because it follows a rather similar recipe and therefore lacks the effect of surprise. Otherwise, it is a very fine release, highly enjoyable yet genre-pushing, and unmistakably Fennesz from beginning to end. The melodies that haunted Endless Summer’s washes of granulated noise are still present, although in a more subtle form. Except for one standout exception, you won’t be whistling these tunes in the shower, as the melodic component is more evanescent, but the impression of listening to “songs” remains strong. In that respect, highlights include the delicate opener “Rivers of Sand” and “The Point of It All.” The album features two extra contributors. One of them was predictable; after all, Fennesz had appeared in duet with David Sylvian on the latter’s 2003 solo CD, Blemish. They do it again in “Transit,” a beautiful song about departures that makes one think the pair should definitely work on a full-scale collaborative project (it could be Sylvian’s best collaboration since the Sylvian/Fripp albums). The second guest is Viennese guitarist Burkhard Stangl, a maverick improviser and puzzling experimentalist. His appearance on two tracks, “Laguna” and “Circassian” (the latter another highlight) follows up on Fennesz’s 2002 collaboration with his improv quartet, Polwechsel. These two pieces (on which Fennesz joins on guitar) have a light post-folk flavor. The album is marvelously sequenced, with short soundscapes articulating mood shifts. The only weak point is found in the closing track, “The Stone of Impermanence,” significantly harsher in texture and sound than what came before, which makes for an uncomfortable finale – the piece would have worked better at midpoint, tempered by gentler neighbors. Still, Venice is another success and every bit as delightful as its predecessor. The presence of David Sylvian will make it easier for new fans to jump in.

Tracklist:

1-01. Fennesz – Rivers of Sand (04:26)
1-02. Fennesz – Chateau Rouge (06:39)
1-03. Fennesz – City of Light (06:34)
1-04. Fennesz – Onsra (00:38)
1-05. Fennesz – Circassian (05:47)
1-06. Fennesz – Onsay (01:05)
1-07. Fennesz – The Other Face (03:20)
1-08. Fennesz – Transit (04:56)
1-09. Fennesz – The Point of It All (05:04)
1-10. Fennesz – Laguna (02:51)
1-11. Fennesz – Asusu (00:54)
1-12. Fennesz – The Stone of Impermanence (06:36)
1-13. Fennesz – Sognato di Domani (05:15)
1-14. Fennesz – Tree (03:20)
1-15. Fennesz – The Future Will Be Different (01:14)

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