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CD Feature/ Fear Falls Burning: "The Rainbow Mirrors a Burning Heart"

  Tobias

This release is definitely a special one. In the early days of his Fear Falls Burning project, when everything was still in an embryonic state and only a handful of people knew that this was in fact the follow-up to Vidna Obmana, Dirk Serries had to basicially build up his live network all over again. One of those who trusted in him was Till Kniola of “auf abwegen”, still Germany’s most important source for reliable and concisely written experimental music journalism as well as a privotal concert organisor. The Kulturbunker in Cologne, which Kniola has headed for the past five years, quickly turned into Serries’ second living room, as his career took off into unexpected heights. “The Rainbow Mirrors a Burning Heart” takes us back to this time, to the early days – close your eyes, it’s October 2005 again.

The period before “The Amplifier Drone” can be summed up by two factors: Feeling forwards towards a unique sound and balancing the complex with the minimal, the tender with the harsh: Fear Falls Burning’s first full-length was a bipolar dance, changing voltage with each song and juxtaposing sound-oriented oscillations with massive reversed onion-peelings. Maybe because these were exclusively studio-albums, they all kept their distance and an air of mystique, remained enigmatically mumbled mantras rather than man-made compositions. On “Rainbow”, Dirk has found a way of revealing himself more without loosing the tension and of integrating the diverse aspects of his work in an organic way. Clocking in at about 36 minutes, it is one of his shortest efforts – and one of his most addictive and most accessible as well. The spectral harmonics of the A-side rest on a monochromatic bass vibration, dipping in and out of choral allusions and gentle wave-peaks overlapping. Never has there been a moment that Serries was closer to pure Ambient than on this occasion, but his music does not remain lingering complacently on the same spot, nor is it “static” in the true sense of the word. Rather, he has found the right mood and stayed put, always leaving the backdoor open for more radical outings. This becomes clear on the flipside, when the dreamy atmospherics suddenly dip their toes into the cold water of distorted doom chords and decide the time is right for some action. Almost for a quarter of an hour, the track drags itself from one note to the next, like a convict in a chain gang, before fading into consolation and a warm applause.

In tune with  Serries’ philosophy, no post-production or editing was performed and the reault sounds as raw and direct as one might expect from a live registration. Above all, however, it has a very human element. This makes the quiet moments appear even more personal, agreeably soothens  the burden of the heavy noise erruptions and makes “The Rainbow Mirrors a Burning Heart” the most immediately recognisable Fear Falls Burning release ever. Up until now, Dirk has never looked back and taken his baby into new waters with each and every track, so if this sounds good to you, don’t miss out on this limited edition of 300 copies. If you’re in a melancholic mood – this is the album for you!

By Tobias Fischer

Homepage: Fear Falls Burning
Homepage: Auf Abwegen