Feu Follet (whose debut CD-R Toi et le Son was reviewed in Cyclic Defrost #14) is Tobias Fischer, a resident of Muenster, Germany – and he’s a very busy chap. As well as being FF, he’s also the founder of the Einzeleinheit label, the editor-in-chief of the excellent Tokafi webzine, and one half of the ‘Berlin school’ duo Suneaters.
Souvenir d’Ermitage is an EP consisting of just three tracks. ‘Le Sourire de Sonja’ opens proceedings with held piano chords drenched in reverb, over light, pattering rimshots and a faraway suspended electronic ambience. (The Sonja of the title is clearly a much
admired femme, as the EP also bears a dedication to her on the cover.) On the title track we hear warm, soft, cocooning synth pads over deep, submarine bass pulses – and again the heavily reverbed percussion sounds. Midway through, the percussion and bass drop out – the synth ambience returns, but now foregrounded. Dolorous piano chords hang in the air and somnambulant drones hover in the background. The effect is irresistibly Romantic. ‘Ailleurs’ closes the disc with childlike rattling percussion, and those same held piano chords even further swathed in echo, finally dying away to silence.
Tobias Fischer: “The titles of Souvenir d’Ermitage already indicate that even a happy Present will carry the burden of the Past. Behind the smile of a loved one, ineffaceable memories will always hide. Which is not to say that I consider depression to be a normal state or that I would call myself a pessimist… After all, it is thanks to pain that we’ll find the things we have always been searching for.”
A superb release – highly recommended. This was available for free download from Silence Is Not Empty, although the current status is unclear.
Ewan Burke
