Fonoda: Eventually
Büro

During 2006, City Centre Office's sub-label Büro issued strong albums by One Second Bridge and The Gentleman Losers and appears poised to follow suit in 2007 with Fonoda's Eventually. To date, Büro releases have opted for a more rock-oriented small group sound unlike the more purely electronic-based style associated with CCO. Founded in 2002, Fonoda (Florian Dölzer, Matthias Neuefeind, Christian Unertl) perpetuates the Büro aesthetic on its second album with an elegant style reminiscent of Giardini di Mirò with hints of Sigur Rós and Labradford added for good measure. The post-rock grooves, chiming guitars, and vocals in “A Spiral Ant” and “Ambient Take No. 1 (W.I.A.)” situate Fonoda squarely in Giardini di Mirò territory while the slo-core ambiance of “The New Red” exudes a Labradford languor. Though “Not Dead, Just Sleeping (They Are)” and “Last Folder” slowly escalate to a hammerhead guitar wail, they're dwarfed by the incendiary vocal screams (resembling Envy's Tetsuya Fukagawa tortured yelp) Fonoda adds to raw guitar sludge in “Silence Means Disease.” Despite the derivative quality of the group's sound, assorted moments of melodic loveliness (“Ambient Take No. 1 (W.I.A.)” in particular) and nicely modulated loud-soft dynamics (a lovely church-like episode that offsets the guitar crunch in “Silence Means Disease” and horn chorale that lifts the two-part “The New Red” heavenward) help distinguish Eventually's material.

January 2007