Bernard Fleischmann

The usual appointment with Fosfeni, the festival devoted to the music of the new millennium, surprised its circle of devotees with some rather interesting names. Starting with vinyl manipulator Philip Jeck, moving on to industrial music guru Blixa Bargeld, and offering a strong showcase for the Italian scene with no fewer than two projects: Retina.it and the Sdeng collective.

The evening we'll be reviewing here concerns one of the founding fathers of what was the indietronica era: Bernard Fleischmann. His close collaboration with Thomas Morr produced one of the cornerstones of a movement that has shaped and influenced generations of storytellers for around 8 years now.

Even though attention to his output has cooled slightly compared to the days of his masterpiece “Welcome Tourist”, the Austrian has been releasing records regularly again in recent years. Both the recent “Angst Not A Weltanschauung” and “The Humbucking Coil” are fine variations on a particular way of making electronic music, halfway between ambient, techno and a pop essence. The unprecedented presence of vocals on his latest effort, adding great personality to his compositions, along with a spirit of continual renewal, allow the artist to avoid any dip in form across a career that remains as valuable and essential as ever.

The setting of the Città del Teatro in Cascina is always evocative: a recently built venue used for various kinds of artistic activities, as well as a satellite branch of the University of Pisa and a hangout spot for local youth. The juiciest news, already known weeks before the event, was the presence of two supporting acts, both worth checking out on record: William Van Ghost and Marilies Jagsch.

The concert starts right on time, and from the very first tracks it showcases a quality that proves decisive in an electronic music performance: variety. Purely instrumental pieces alternate with combinations of electronics and vocals, and both singers later stay on stage for a fully acoustic song. The projected visuals are perfectly in tune with the sounds, moving between bizarre edits of vintage films and abstractions that are as convoluted as they are captivating.

The tracks performed are drawn almost entirely from the records listed above, picked seemingly at random from a rich back catalogue. In the moments when our man is left alone in front of his laptop, we can barely make out the melodies of the record, given the reworkings applied on the spot via a mixer set up beside his station: frenzied versions loaded with sonic distortion, incisive beats and rhythmic tears of real atmospheric quality. The experience and awareness with which Fleischmann handles his material elevate him to the status of a gentleman of electronic music, capable of dazzling twists as well as classic hooks guaranteed to please. Unmatched jolts fly by in "Last Time We Met At A T&TT Concert", while the total dismantling of the original "Phones, Machines And King Kong" veers toward a contaminated vocal style, born of particular operations poised between experimentation and club-ready disengagement. A sweetness that's never saccharine pours out with moving intensity from the extended version of "Broken Monitors", and the room stands still during the slow unraveling of the apocalyptic catharsis built by "The Market".

In the moments when the two singers take the stage, the music steps slightly aside to highlight the qualities of the soloists at the microphone. William Van Ghost takes command of the stage, showing off deep tones in "Hello", while Marilies Jagsch backs him up, weaving into the fabric of the magnificent "24.12", which effectively becomes the most intense moment of the concert. Shortly after, Ghost himself is left alone with his guitar (Jagsch will do the same a few moments later), with a song halfway between shadowy folk and intimate singer-songwriter fare.

The shyness and the smile Fleischmann often flashes out of embarrassment inspire warmth, showing humility and respect for the audience from the very first moment of the show. The precision of a flawless performance, combined with never-flagging inspiration, push far into the distance the twilight of an artist who, for years, has kept offering variations on a sound that will never wither.

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