MANYFINGERS - Our Worn Shadow

Chris Cole comes from that Bristol underground scene that gave birth to bands like Flying Saucer Attack, Movietone, Third Eye Foundation and Amp. For years, in fact, Cole played violin and cello for his friends in Movietone and was Matt Elliott's right-hand man in Third Eye Foundation itself. "Our Worn Shadow" is his second solo album, already released some time ago on CD-R and now reissued in a lavish slipcase edition by Spanish label Acuarela. The CD comes with a DVD featuring Cole performing live in his hometown on August 14, 2005: just four songs, but they perfectly capture the intensity of a Manyfingers show.

"Our Worn Shadow" contains eight songs spread across fifty minutes of almost entirely instrumental music, written, performed and arranged solely by Chris Cole. Manyfingers builds his songs layer upon layer, adding them cyclically. "Some Shiled…" opens the collection by immediately plunging the listener's senses into a morning dew made of light piano notes, and then the other instruments slowly appear, forming a slow, captivating bolero.

"For Measured Shores" is built in a similar way: an acoustic guitar phrase is propped up by an organ chord, and then, instrument after instrument, voice, piano, electronic percussion and cello are added to the sonic spectrum. The title track "Our Worn Shadow" recalls Yann Tiersen's skill at reinterpreting Wim Mertens' minimalism and adapting it to rock timbres.

There's no escaping the vortex of melancholy in which Cole wraps his songs, enveloped as they are in the sounds of piano, trumpet, cello and accordion. The few tracks that break the pattern are no exception - like the marvelous "3 Forms" - where the drums burst into a contagious eruption, pouring energy over all the other instruments.

By now the post-rock label undoubtedly feels too narrow for Manyfingers, who blends into his compositions not just rock elements but also minimalism, electronics and jazz. "Our Worn Shadown" is a massive record, able to capture the ferment of an entire musical scene within itself and rework it in a thoroughly original way.

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04/09/2006