Foxy Digitalis (March 2007)
02-06-2008
Christa Pfangen is actually a group, a duo of Andrea Belfi and Mattia Coletti, who draw their name from the singer Nico’s given name. But, the music here shares nothing with Nico aside from the name. Somehow, the music on “Watch Me” sounds rather familiar but also feels vibrant and kind of fresh. I’m at first reminded of Gastr Del Sol. A very watered down version, for sure. While Gastr Del Sol surely cut a much wider swath through musical styles and ideas there does seem to be some shared ground here. The disjointed rhythms and mixture of acoustic and electric guitars in what seem like a happenstance manner (but surely aren’t) carries along that vibe nicely here.
“Simply, just an object” simply floats. With sparse drumming, almost like the drummer is falling asleep, the beat rides in and around the faintest structure of a song. And the guitar does just as much floating, weaving in and around one another, the whole thing gently falling apart. While the majority of the sounds on the album come from acoustic and electric guitars and percussion, voices appear. Here and there they are heard, barely more than a whisper, almost doing a duet with whatever haunted electronic devices are used to conjure the other sounds heard throughout. “Getting back to the end” closes out the whole thing on a dreamy note. What begins as pretty and melodic fades into something hypnotic yet faintly discordant and then, quickly, becomes nothing. The album as a whole is a trip to a land of fractured thoughts and non-linear vibes. And I couldn’t mean that in a nicer way. 8/10 -- Adam Richards (6 March, 2007)
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Andrea Belfi
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