Fontanelle: Vitamin F
Author: Daniel Spicer
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Musicians: |
Dave Carter (t) |
Label: |
Southern Lord |
Magazine Review Date: |
February/2013 |
Catalogue Number: |
LORD148 |
RecordDate: |
date not stated |
It's 10 years since Portland, Oregon's Fontanelle released an album, during which they've upgraded from ambient grooves to down and dirty funk fusion with grit on the back of its neck. Indeed, Vitamin F sounds like they've spent a decade listening to nothing but early-1970s electric Miles. ‘Watermelon Hands’ goes for the heavy traction of Live Evil; ‘The Adjacent Possible’ captures the spacious menace of A Tribute To Jack Johnson's ‘Yesternow’; and the title track nods towards the dark force of On The Corner, with forward-rushing drums and hi-hat snits providing a framework for washes of floating, otherworldly horns. That horn section features many of the same players that leant depth to Monoliths & Dimensions, the 2009 album by avant-Metal outfit Sunn 0))), on whose label this is released and with whom Fontanelle's founder and guitarist Rex Ritter has worked. Both albums also share the cavernous, epic touch of engineer Randall Dunn, but it's the small details that make this such a trip: the soaring psych-rock guitar solo on ‘When The Fire Hits The Forest’; filthy splashes of clavinet and ring-modulated Fender Rhodes; and the kind of whooshing space FX that Dr Patrick Gleeson brought to Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi albums. This is old-fashioned, analogue joy.

Jazzwise Full Club
- Latest print and digital issues
- Digital archive since 1997
- Download tracks from bonus compilation albums throughout the year
- Reviews Database access
From £9.08 / month
Subscribe
Jazzwise Digital Club
- Latest digital issues
- Digital archive since 1997
- Download tracks from bonus compilation albums during the year
- Reviews Database access