MoonJune 2026
Swiss architect of sonic alliances and his aural liaisons unleash emotionality and synthesize wondrous possibilities out of the ether.
Fractal Guitar 4
Spinning a kaleidoscope can be addictive, because the endless randomness of combinations its elements fall into feels entertaining, albeit often as cold as any scientific experiment is, their symmetry and, therefore, self-similarity failing to project sentimental warmth no matter how bright these bits’ colors seem. That’s something Stephan Thelen must know all too well, and still, seven years down the line from the album which started his voyage into the world of inherently volatile patterns, the Zürich-dwelling artist set to defy expectancies his work – and the work of his friends who also mastered the magic of strings – elicit. The pieces forming the fourth – or fifth, if you count the "Sextet" venture – chapter of the series are, for all their complex structures, extremely accessible opuses, and though a couple of cuts on offer upgrade his previously released Thelen’s tunes, such an approach will only emphasize the reflective qualities of Stephan’s endeavors.
He may treat arrangements as a tour de force or intimate performances, but the beauty of this platter is in constant flux between the two dynamic aspects, as illustrated by the profoundly philosophical epic “In Search Of The Miraculous” that bookends the record. Its opening panorama’s many facets come from Jon Durant, Eivind Aarset, Markus Reuter and Stefan Huth’s fretboards, and Stephan’s multiple instruments bring everything together to reveal an ever-changing picture, either thickly textured with raging riffs of sparsely spiked with romantic passages, which Yogev Gabay’s drums relentlessly propel to catharsis, while the coda’s breathtaking, yet ruminative, perspectives arrive embroidered with Durant’s fluid lines applied to Aarset’s hypnotic soundscape and Thelen’s synthesizer. The number of people doesn’t matter here; what they do does, however, and Eivind and Stephan’s elastic basses and faux voices direct “Fractal Guitar Goes To Africa” towards an exciting, fusion-informed trip even before the latter’s kalimba and celesta augment Yogev’s grooves, and brass licks anchor the exotica until the trio regroup to render a fresh take on “Haumea” as a foray into a hazy, humid cosmos of predatory melodies destined to intimidate and haunt most intrepid travelers.
And once they arrive at “Crossroads (For Bill Laswell)” – that, ironically, doesn’t feature bass per se, yet finds Thelen deploy low frequencies amid Aarset’s fuzz and Durant’s acoustic strum, peppered with Giri Subramaniam’s tabla and Stephan’s own samples – to delve deeper into a twangy ‘n’ tangy, scintillatingly scented musical thrill, which “Creatures Of The Night” enhances, full of nocturnal nuance, with Jon’s fretless efforts and Andi Pupato’s percussive exercises, there’s no return to the real world. This is why the bipartite “Eclipse” – split into the understated “Into The Darkness” and the fantastic “Into The Light” movements – paces itself with a lot of poise and eschews hurry in favor of nuclear momentum fueled by Fabio Anile’s Fender Rhodes and the main man’s ivories and electronica: to give the listener the chance to soak in all the miracles so generously scattered across “Fractal Guitar 4” – arguably, an apex of Thelen’s climb to sonic nirvana.
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