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An instrumental new outlet for the combined talents of Rex Ritter and Andy Brown (both ex-Jessamine), Fontanelle is both an extension of their previous project and a satisfying, vocal free excursion into jazzy minimalism. Opener Picture Start never actually does, staying rooted to its insistent tempo for the first nine of it's ten minute duration and, even then, Matt Morgan's brief forays around the kit are playfully undramatic. Ritter's guitar figures and Brown's electric piano wander over themselves inquisitively like new-born kittens throughout. Too cool to funk, Reflex Vs. Parallax is a lazy morning's rummage through electric-period Miles Davis records, The Telephone Fade a slightly more alert remix. Six tracks so intent on not letting fly that after 44 minutes you'll either have willingly succumbed to a comatose slumber or sparked a previously dormant desire to buy a Led Zeppelin box set.

Matt Dornan
CWAS #6 - Autumn 2000

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