Venice 20 by Fennesz - Touch [TO5320] FLAC download included with physical items

Venice 20

Fennesz

A 15 track ambient album (58m 39s) — released August 23rd 2024 on Touch

#electronic #ambient

The 20th anniversary re-issue of Fennesz's best-selling 'Venice', originally released in 2004, is now available as a deluxe version remastered by Denis Blackham, with new and extra tracks not on the previous CD or vinyl versions. Included in the DVD-format edition is a booklet with texts by Fennesz himself, Denis Blackham & Jon Wozencroft, with unseen photographs from the original 2004 sessions. The booklet also reproduces David Sylvian's original handwritten lyrics for 'Transit'. This "stunning collaboration with David Sylvian continues where their fantastic duo track on Sylvian's album Blemish left off. Situated directly in the middle of a mostly subdued listening experience, 'Transit' literally bursts out of the speakers accentuating the album's more pop-like characteristics as well as its more restrained moments."
Denis Blackham:
"Fast forward to 2024 and here I am again with the same original master mixes I used in 2003 to make a new and expanded version of the album – Venice 20. A little over twenty years later, technology in audio production, recording and mastering has improved substantially, so I was excited to return to this album and give my 2024 treatment."
Jon Wozencroft:
"...The whole work has a stillness and a stature that is essentially timeless. This is of course exemplified by the collaboration with David Sylvian on 'Transit', which, now 20 years on, has all come true. I hoped the cover art to be on the level of a painting, to endure, like the music. It's mad because I'd never claim to be able to paint, or assume that photographs can endure as long as paintings can. The work with Christian, which continues, always moves me and above all it's a chemistry, a feeling you can't quite put your finger on."
Christian Fennesz:
"Over months, I collected material for the album: short recordings of acoustic and electric guitars, experiments with newly introduced soft synths and samplers, and field recordings, sometimes done on the go and directly in Venice, where I stayed for several weeks. The sound and acoustics of the city fascinated me. From my room, you could clearly hear conversations at night with the window open, but it was uncertain whether they came from the neighbouring house or several blocks away, as if the sound waves in Venice followed their own rules. It was during this time that the idea for Venice as an album title came to me, as a suggestive description of a dignified decline, decay, death, and rebirth. David Sylvian's lyrics and vocal performance for 'Transit' perfectly encapsulated this idea for me. The piece remains a highlight of a wonderful, ongoing collaboration."

Highlights include ‘Transit,’ a stunning collaboration with David Sylvian that continues where their fantastic duo track on Sylvian’s album Blemish left off. Situated directly in the middle of a mostly subdued listening experience ‘Transit’ literally bursts out of the speakers accentuating the album’s more pop-like characteristics as well as its more restrained moments.” - Other Music

It was voted No. 3 in The Top 50, The Wire, December 2004, was album of the week at BBCi on its release and remains Christian Fennesz’s best-selling record to date. - Babadu

The influence ‘Venice’ has had, with the textural heights it reached, is phenomenal: I can hear these gasping electronics in so much of what’s recorded now, and it feels like another chapter in which Fennesz was able to reconcile white noise and sonic assaults with beautified and ambient-leaning electronica. - Norman Records

This is an amazing album that will no doubt come to be as highly regarded as ‘Endless Summer’ though musically its a much more varied affair, reflected by the contrasting imagery in the digipak photography. - Boomkat

Venice is an album that continues to work extremely well, even after 20 years. The combination of lighter-sounding loops with sounds that are more distorted results in a complexity of tone and texture as this remastered version emphasizes. The moods are subtle, sentimental, nostalgic, and bittersweet. Each piece makes a short memory, and in doing so, becomes unforgettable. Venice is yet again a substantial album that will long persist in a listener’s mind, and 20 years later, still feels just as integral as it was upon initial release. - Thomas Park Igloo

The work of fennesz has been a huge inspiration since VENICE days, this fantastic new track is again no exeption... - Matthias Telecaster

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