FONTANELLE

After the demise of Jessamine in 1998, guitarist Rex Ritter and keyboardist Andy Brown formed a new band called Fontanelle.  The band played some shows around their Portland, OR base and slowly refined their sounds while settling on a permanent lineup.  The quartet's guitar-keyboard-drums lineup enhanced the detailed, intricate workings of the music. Fontanelle record at their home-based Magnetic Park Studio and then edit via computer. Many times the group will tape rehearsals and then gather around the computer editing, remixing and recombining the compositions and improvisations. The debut album, Fontanelle, extends and develops the sound of the last Jessamine album, Don't Stay Too Long, taking the bubbling electric piano and synthesizers of that album into even more complex patterns.  Guitars and keyboards repeat looping, Reichian melodic lines over drums that can click into Can-type patterns or shift into a funky lope. Melody and rhythm weave, bob and play off read more...