Search - Fennesz :: Fennesz Plays

Christian Fennesz already salvaged the electric guitar from the scrapheap of outmoded instrumentation using his brilliant digital processing and assembly techniques. Now the Viennese wunderkind attempts to make AM gold relevant for tomorrow's tomorrow. "Paint It Black" retains only five notes and a smattering of wobbly bass from the second half of the Stones' chorus. Fennesz dispatches with the rest under scrabbling mecha-mosquito noises and veils of electric-beehive buzz, and the glittering Eastern intrigue of a Maharishi's lament is transfigured as a rousing voluntary from Gabriel's trumpet. But, oh, those five notes--soaring, sobbing, and packing more yearning than any aging junkie rock star could ever muster, even at hundreds of dollars per ticket. They're all you'll ever need, the Stones' deathless allure synopsized for the ADD mentality of our sound-bite age. Each note of Brian Wilson's tender "Don't Cry (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)" is "played" as though plucked and strummed on thick titanium strings strung across the Grand Canyon. For the comparison-inclined, imagine Arnold Dreyblatt and John Fahey serenading an Allegheny County sunset. Wounded fingers rain ruby tears; bug zappers supply doo-wop backup. Then it's over, Fennesz having made his point in less than 10 minutes and long since moved on. Why should you care? Because Plays is another Fennesz miracle, the past not just made "new again" but transformed into the sound of a distant future. --Gil Gershman