Fontanelle - Fontanelle - Alternative - CD

Fontanelle is descended from the late, lamented US space-rock outfit Jessamine, but while there are some elements of the latter on Fontanelle's debut album, this is no cosmic excursion. There's a slight trippiness to these improvisation-oriented instrumentals, accented by the occasional electronic gurgle, but Fontanelle leans closer to the neo-jazz electronica of Tortoise than the acid spaciness of Hawkwind.

There's an angularity to these tracks, highlighted by a ubiquitous electric piano that conjures echoes of IN A SILENT WAY-era Miles Davis, moving the music closer to the structural progressivism of post-rock. Fontanelle's sound may bear traces of the past in its vintage jazz-rock and electronic music references, but somehow it still seems undeniably contemporary.