Fennesz - Endless Summer
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Label: Mego
Year: 2001
Almost a decade has passed since I saw “Endless Summer” at my local record shop. Back in those days there was nothing strange about having local record shops, and spending a few hours each week listening through their or your mates recommendations was part and parcel of being a lover of music. So my first encounter with Fennesz and with “Endless Summer” was on one of my usual trips to said record store.
The first thing that caught my eye was the artist’s name – Fennesz. Being of hungarian origin, the “sz” combination in – Fennesz – stood out and needed further inspection. The slightly kitsch cover – black and pink – and the title “Endless Summer” – didn’t tick any of the boxes. But I had heard of Mego. And Mego was a good label.
Right after the opening track “Made in Hong Kong” started, I knew that this record was one I would walk out with. I hadn’t heard many records before that fused the electronic sounds with a soft vibrating layer. I didn’t read up on Fennesz and the way he made music, and it caught me by surprise the first time I saw him perform live that he actually uses an eletric guitar.
Listening to the title track, after having seen him live, the sounds coming through the speaker are still beatiful, though not as mysterious as previously. Making a large part of the sounds on the guitar gives the music an organic feel that blends well in with the sharpness of the electronic sounds. It is all about the balance. Thoughts of lazy summer nights are evoked by the dreamy guitar of Fennesz, one could say an endless summer.
The weaving textures continue throughout the record. Shifting from the lightness of the title track to the denser “A year in a minute”, and back to the lighter shade with “Caecilia”. The lofty guitar fuelled melodic landscape comes to an abrupt end with the second to last track “Before I leave”. Fennesz changes from strings to the sounds of tones bouncing tightly, just as a cd player when the record starts skipping.
The short, pulsating and strangely melodic track gives way to a long outro, “Happy Audio”. These last two tracks place the listener firmly back into an urban sphere. The endless summer that was felt during the majority of the record gives way to something new. The calmness is gone, the repetitiveness of the previous track is continued. A swirling monotony sets in. And after ten joyous mintues fades out.
With this record I discovered Fennesz, and a whole new scene. Have followed both since. In other words, I owe a lot to “Endless Summer”.
Only a few years after buying Fennesz’s “Endless Summer” did I find out that “Endless Summer” was also the title of a iconic surfing movie made in 1966. Great film by the way.
