Feu Follet: Ministry of Rites - GRID (2008)

Glenn Astarita

Senior Contributor since 1997

Longtime contributor to AAJ and Downbeat, Jazz Review, EjazzNews, Radio DirectX.

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Published: March 12, 2009

The superb Ministry of Rites - GRID yields a paradigm for the present day advancement electronics-based music's transmission of depth of expressionism. Amid numerous sound-shaping textures and an abundance of coherent mini-themes, Tobias Fischer and Rent Romus recorded this album remotely without any predefined musical borders. While they often project a mammoth wall of sound, it's all engineered upon mind-altering sonic-scapes and other curiously interesting facets.

The duo slams the psyche into submission, while offering numerous mind-bending propositions. At times there are streaming sounds of a river intermixed with notions of high-decibel machinery gone awry. Other passages are designed with analog wave forms, counterbalanced by Romus' yearning upper register sax lines along with effects-treated voices that spark notions of alien communication, prompting the mind to wander and create.

Feu Follet marches to the beat of a different drummer, as the artists occasionally fuse odd-metered rhythmic elements into shadowy drones and swirling church organ motifs. Contrasts and thought-provoking muses are in abundance, while "Saturine Shores" features Romus' sublime alto sax choruses against harrowing backdrops. The duo also conjures up an impression of despair, shaded with a doomsday narrative, where lucid imagery looms as a prominent manifesto. Compelling, enchanting and chock full of multi-hued emotive attributes, it's a significant work that should not be overlooked.

Track Listing: Nightlight; Saturine; Shores; Full-Moon Figment; Fadethrough; Embers; Grid.

Personnel: Tobias Fischer: PC electronics, loops, field recordings, piano; Rent Romus: analogue electronics, alto saxophone, voices, radio.

Record Label: Edgetone Records
Style: Electronica