“I think this is the very first time Frank Rothe has brought Fratoroler or Filter-Kaffee textures to Fringo Chills”
1 Falling Snow 19:00
2 Cooling Colder 17:54
3 Icy 20:01
4 Welcome Springtime 9:36
(CD-R/DDL 66:31) (V.F.)
(Ambient Berlin School)
As soon as a pulsating chord crosses our ears, Falling Snow multiplies its radiations by 6. Floating shadows, a series of 2 chords and their echoes, without counting the echo of these, and a wave of sibylline murmur transforming into long lament of steel blue are among the floating elements that adorn this first panorama in… COOLED. Jets of wooshh and wiishh rise to the surface, like isolated gusts, while the panorama becomes heavy with reverberating elements and tender synth solos which counterbalance this dark and gloomy mass which advances with more conviction in Falling Snow. The 8-minute point changes the temperature of the title a bit with flute jets which go up the current of this sound mass. Playing with scattered pulsations, these jets take on the appearance of notes which they take on the appearance of a rhythm while all around dance a rhythmic stratagem drawn by unruly keys. These rhythmic flakes dance all around the backbone of a title which spreads layers of ambiences over layers of ambiences while this phantom rhythm, it spins with the discretion of a non-existent thing, continues to obsess our senses. And the more the seconds pass and the more the roles are reversed until reaching the final of a title which put us to sleep until its escape. And Falling Snow will not be our only seducer of the senses since the 3 big titles of this 3rd album of Fringo Chills offer these long structures where each sound has its importance since its mutation depends on the next chord. Like Frank Rothe, the soul behind Fringo Chills, I like to relax by following the evolutions of these long titles with unknown, but desired outcomes. At this level, …COOLED fulfills the promises of its composer. I like these noises which become pieces of rhythms and harmonies. And once again, … COOLED meets my expectations.
It is therefore with ears filled of hearing pleasure that I continue my quest for this Fringo Chills album. Layers of celestial voices are at the origin of Cooling Colder. Far from reflecting the colors of its title, the ambiences flow with delicate voices on a bed of muted reverberations and other elements that surround it. A bit like in Falling Snow, these distant elements foment a rhythmic vision that we end up losing ears when the vibes are deviating towards a more chthonic stage. The rhythmic backbone returns with more strength and with beats which are leaning on the echo effects in this ambient structure which also knows its first point of fracture around 8 minutes. The persistent din grazes the good will of my eardrums, which are struggling to keep up with the evolution that Cooling Colder wants to take! A line of the sequencer remains active and crosses the storm to finally dominate around the 17 minutes, sculpting an ambient rhythm which will be sucked into the dust of the interstellar void. Icy deploys its texture of intensity from the first resonance of a fallen note. Its panorama is flooded of reverberating waves besieged by misshapen streaks which are like laser points spitting hhiiisshhh which whip our eardrums. The continuous rumblings are called to suffer under their stings while slowly, the introductory texture swaps into a customary din which transports us to a splendid ambient Berlin School movement around the 12th minute. The sequencer becomes a unique element of zigzagging rhythm that a synth nibbles with small tonal caresses. Look no further for the best minutes of …COOLER! They heavily infiltrate our ears from the 12th to the final of Welcome Springtime which offers us a splendid evolving Berlin School at the level of the sequencer which makes its few lines parade in parallel rhythms. The synth is conceived in poetry with plaintive solos that are as musical as this rhythm which takes us as far as our imagination allows.
I think this is the very first time Frank Rothe has brought Fratoroler or Filter-Kaffee textures to Fringo Chills. Ambient in a proportion of 70%, …COOLER offers phases which flirt with the universe of his two bands without forgetting the old Tangerine Dream of the 70's, especially at the level of the sequencer and the vibes in the particularly good Welcome Springtime. An album which requires a certain adjustment, tuning, of our eardrums which will on the other hand make things easier from the 12th minute of Icy. … COOLER is a big SynGate and Fringo Chills album. A very beautiful album that will make you wrinkle of the ears ...
Sylvain Lupari (November 17th, 2020) *****
Available at SynGate Bandcamp