FENIN

Perhaps the closest sonic analogy might be late '90s post-rock of the City Slang and Soul Static Sound variety, which Fenin’s earlier Shitkatapult 12” ‘Thrill’ also hinted at. There are guitars on ‘Miles and More’, for example, and the scratchy rhythms of the single ‘A Try’ could easily find themselves on to a To Rococo Rot album. ‘Elephants’, meanwhile, is abstract pop with clear dancefloor leanings and synthy pop beats.

Been Through is occasionally tense and brooding, such as on opener ‘Dub Eraldo – Intro’, made with Italian avante garde musician Eraldo Bernocchi, which is all dub pressure pulses and wobbleboard bass, or on the closing track ‘Years Ago’, which pairs a metronomic tin beat with dense hypnotic keyboards. In between, the mood is lighter: ‘Breakin’ is almost happy sounding, lifted up by it’s infectious (or infuriating, depending on your point of view) one finger keyboard melody and shuffling percussion.

Ghanaian-born Berliner Gorbi, who provided the vocals on several early Fenin singles, also adds to the retrospective dub flavour on four tracks. Unfortunately, his vocals on the single from the album ‘A Try’ and the electro pop cut ‘Colorfields’ follow almost the same melody line in parts, which undermines the effect. Gorbi is at his best on the cover of Neil Diamond ‘Red Red Wine’, which is transformed into an electronic roots reggae cover that is thankfully closer to Tony Tribe´s rocksteady version than the UB40 hit. Robert “Scorcha” Williams almost outdoes Gorbi on his one appearance with some heavy vocals on the sound system-esque ‘Complain’, but Gorbi is again in form on the excellent ‘I Guess’ where he lets himself get lost and loose in the hypnotic percussive maze. Importantly, Fenin seems to be content not to over-process any of the vocals, leaving them vulnerable, but also steering them well away from the clichéd dub territory of too many echoes and filters.

The albums greatest quality overall is its intelligence and control. No track is overly long and yet each has its own strong melodic current and well designed structure that develops as the track goes on –many even have short, elaborate codas. These details may give Been Through a weaving flow that adds interest, but overall there is a certain restraint to the record, which combined with the absence of a single binding idea leaves the album just short of being classic electronica.

Chris Mann (courtesy of the Resident Advisor website)

Counting many singles and other efforts over time, Fenin's work has been almost as extensive as his fellow German dub enthusiast Pole's, if not as well-known comparatively, so another album from him is always a welcome one, and Been Through stands out as an entrancing effort from start to finish. A lean 50 minutes of music, its opening track "Dub Eraldo -- Intro" sets the tone by both wearing its dub connections completely on its sleeve and punctuating the core melody with an ever more complex overlay of glitchy beats and abbreviated beats. Compared to the more recently hyped sound of dubstep, Fenin's work seems slightly out of step but this is precisely what makes it more noticeable in contrast -- certainly compared to someone like Burial there's more consistency throughout the full album, much to Fenin's credit. Guest singer Gorbi, a Berlin-based Ghanian singer, adds his vocals to four of the album's songs, all of which are enjoyable if not necessarily breathtaking, though the reinterpretation of the Neil Diamond-into-UB40 standard "Red Red Wine," by not trying to be faithful to the more familiar arrangements, allows both musician and singer to put their own definitive stamp on it. "A Try" has a fine chorus and Fenin's way of underplaying the music to give space to Gorbi is attractive, and has a direct contrast in the directly following "Breakin," a quicker dance number that's at once pure early-'80s electro and Fenin's own early 21st century blend of styles. Meanwhile, Scorcha's one vocal turn, "Complain," is another standout, as is the ominous throb of "Miles and More."

Ned Raggert (courtesy of the False Prophet Campaign website)