Fatalist: The Repetition of History ignites the imagination like flashes of lightning on a distant horizon, or a walk through a misty path illuminated only by a lunar light. Piano, string instruments, ghostly chants and abstract sound painting are meticulously woven together, creating a kinetic and timeless tapestry that will make any late-night listening session through headphones an intimate and highly rewarding experience.
Something old, something new, but not a thing borrowed. Field Rotation’s latest work—Fatalist: The Repetition of History—is more than a musical composition, it’s an experience, an adventure, a unique work of sheer brilliance. Obviously, it transmits on the sonic plane, but like any good record should do, also on the visual plane. It inspires and evokes. It’s heartbreaking but gives strength, it’s contemporary yet ancient, fragile yet powerful, cinematic, and even though can be classified as modern classical or electro-acoustic, not exclusively bound to any particular period or genre. Something blue? Well that depends on the way you see sounds.
My affair with Field Rotation’s music began somewhere back in 2009, when he released a track on the Hope compilation—the debut release of the wonderful Fluid Audio label. I have been following his work ever since. I see Christoph Berg aka Field Rotation as a part of an unofficial guild of sound painters with members like Nils Frahm, Peter Broderick, Dustin O’Halloran, Olafur Arnalds and more. What Christoph and all these guys have in common besides talent, innovative mind, passion for music and similar musical aesthetics, is a strong devotion to create and push forward music that arouses the mind and soul. Music that merges different sonic worlds into one. Music that stays with you long after the record has finished playing.
Composer, producer, violinist and pianist, Christoph Berg started Field Rotation as a project that combines electronics with elements of classical music, but as time went by, he became more and more focused on what seems to be his true love—classical music. He hasn’t forsaken the electronic aspect and still combines it in his creations, just in a more subtle, yet much more effective way. So far, the most exquisite outcome of this natural process was the album Acoustic Tales that was released in 2011 on Fluid Audio and Denovali. A true work of art, and fortunately I own one of those lovely limited edition packages that came out on Fluid Audio. But now Christoph is back with what I think is his most haunting and crystallized output yet.
Fatalist: The Repetition of History ignites the imagination like flashes of lightning on a distant horizon, or a walk through a misty path illuminated only by a lunar light. Piano, string instruments, ghostly chants and abstract sound painting are meticulously woven together, creating a kinetic and timeless tapestry that will make any late-night listening session through headphones an intimate and highly rewarding experience.
As someone once said, and I often quote: “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture—it’s really a stupid thing to want to do.” I think us reviewers keep validating this claim with each review we write, but there is one useful thing I can say, and that is: go get a physical copy of this album, so you’ll have the best sound quality and beautiful artwork / packaging as well, and just see what the music does for you. I beseech you.
Fatalist: The Repetition of History is available on Denovali. [Release page]
