[roughly translated from the Italian]
We could generically describe the scope of “contemporary improvisational music” that was contained in this CD+DVD issued by the guitarist and composer Chris Jentsch, leader of the quartet composed of Jim Whitney at the bass, John Mettam on the skins, and Matt Renzi playing winds. The creative formula is based on the manipulation of themes from Jentsch’s jazz orchestra recordings, as originally arranged for quartet. In tribute to productions of the 70s, Fractured Pop is enriched by a lot of overdubs and the audio CD is divided into 2 parts of around 40 minutes each. The musical references are varied, from the pop of the title track on to the more ballad-like "Radio Silence". After those distorted sonorities and passages, the guitar sound turns clean along with Mettam’s brushes for "Are You Bye?". We add traces of prog and a little electronica as the songs are arranged lavishly, creating a sound painting of a complete, original, and cultured work. With "Old Folks Postlude" arrives also the naturalistic episode: a 7:42 collage track of crickets versus birds and cars in the distance. The author cites the reference Brian Eno, but it is on the guitar that he is credited as contributing to the CD John Cage, Vol. 11. The DVD offers alternate versions, remixes of excerpts, lead sheets in PDF, FLAC editions of the CD, and a live in studio video.
- Fabrizio Dadò (Axe Magazine)