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Glancing at the front cover of Sascha Funke’s second longplayer, you could be mistaken for thinking it was a new promotional billboard for Calvin Klein. Four clones of the man himself (i’m presuming) lie sprawled half naked across some pavement in black and white colour. Not sure how it sits in context with the fruity title, but I guess we’ve certainly come across much weirder themes in the history of album titles and their covers.
Cast aside the artwork though, and the title track of the same name is first up. Beginning with a tin-like percussive rhythm, the melody and bass slowly melt in and a tight organic groove is born. I must say it’s a great opening to the album, perfect sunrise music in fact. You cant help but wonder how nice it would be as a soundtrack to the morning dancefloor. What really gives it a nice little touch is the use of subtle electric guitar strumming that builds into background echoes and reverberations as the track progresses. Tasty.
We Are Facing the Sun follows on and from the very opening chord we’re transported to acid house land; smiles, good times and a hop in your step. The main riff is very classic house sounding and has a real old school feel to it. Add to it an eerie drifting synthline with an 80s touch and you have got yourself a very fun, funky and danceable number. The third track Feather makes a hat trick of standout early tracks. It got me thinking we may have a classic album on our hands, but more on that later. This one is a real goosebumps track. A haunting almost flute like melody merges with a beautiful melancholy guitar lick and deep drums add to it, creating a very dramatic and emotional effect. Later piano keys drift in and resonate deeply. A song to ponder or reflect to perhaps? Its definitely a number that takes you to that place, wherever that may be.
The immediate impression of this album is that Mr Funke has created a very deep and organic album. Perhaps it could be called minimal in the sense that the tracks are quite simple and not too busy, but it’s certainly the kind of minimal I like. Very soundscapey and melodic, the percussion is very minor and instead the groove and melody create a sleek modern sound. As with the addition of guitar to quite a few tracks, pretty much every sound has that live feel and it certainly seems replicable for a band setup. Maybe this is the transition that he is working towards? Comparing it to his previous album Bravo there’s been a subtle evolution towards a more organic live feel.
Unfortunately, once we get past the half way mark of the album the quality takes a dip. In fact, the most dancefloor geared numbers such as Double Checked and Lotre (Mehr Fleisch) are actually the most disappointing. They seem to lack the depth of the earlier selections and don’t really go anywhere interesting. The second last number on the album Des Figons adds some respectability to the latter half with a nice 80s grungy feel to it, but at the end of it all you are left thinking about what might have been.
Overall the album is definitely worth a purchase if you are into the deeper, more melodic side of techno. There is enough quality tracks there to have on heavy rotation. However, for my mind, the inconsistency through the latter half of the album keeps a good release from becoming what could have potentially been a great release.
