Ever since his breakthrough Endless Summer album, Christian Fennesz has been well regarded as an artist and composer in the world outside of the beard stroking listeners that labels like Touch and Mego cater to (myself included). On this album, it's not hard to see how this crossover happened: even with all of the odder and less decipherable digital elements, there is a core of melody that is beautiful and undeniable.
The opening title track is the centerpiece of the album, a 10-plus minute composition of squeaky, waxy textures, gentle organ tones, quiet noises and soft acoustic guitar. It is a long, but dynamic composition of varying textures of harshness and beauty that is really unmatched by most other things I've heard this year. It is nicely balanced by the closing "Saffron Rebellion", which is similar in structure and approach, but different in color and timbre.
"The Colour of Three," featuring guest musician Anthony Pateras on prepared piano, is of a similar structure, based upon raw digital flanged sounds and heavily effected guitar tones. The mix is heavy and lush, but also warm and inviting. Even through all the abstraction, the gentle musical elements are clear throughout, ending with subtlety and the more plaintive piano elements. This warmth is also notable in "Perfume for Winter", a shorter track of carefully controlled guitar feedback and crackling bits of static that are as warm and comforting as a fireplace in the winter.
There is a darker feeling to "Glide," which is a collaboration with Rosy Parlane: its static backing and reverbed clanks are rather desolate until thick organ tones swell up, giving a richer, more angelic coda to an otherwise bleak song. Less dark, but more mournful, is "Glass Ceiling," with its muted electronic tones and oddly treated electronic elements, with occasional bits of audible, clear guitar thrown in.
In some of the pieces, Fennesz is content to allow his guitar playing to go untreated or effected: acoustic guitar stays the focus on "Grey Scale," even with subtle electronic effects and elements around it. The electric guitar plucks on "Vacuum" are clear and pure enough, along with the crystalline electronic chimes that, even with the more abrasive ending, never strays away from calm and relaxing waters.
As an album, Black Sea is a captivating and engaging disc that not only has a strong, solid feel to it, but each of the individual tracks are their own separate entities as well. The sheer complexity and depth of the tracks are the album’s strongest suit, and the underlying sense of song and melody that are here makes it transcend from the world of just complex intellectual music into an immensely fascinating and inviting work that anyone with a sense of hearing should be able to appreciate.
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