Southern Lord may be the home of heavy, but it’s not all metal and doom, as Fontanelle’s first album in a decade evidences.
The founding duo of Rex Ritter and Andy brown have pulled a veritable army of players into the Fonanelle camp, and they in turn are joined by a stunning procession of guest contributors – namely Gentry Densley (Eagle Twin), Steve Moore (Earth, Sunn O))), Hans Teuber, Eric Walton (Skerik), Jef Brown (Jackie-O MF) and Dave Carter. With so many performers all bringing different elements to the jazz-based sound, it’s hardly surprising it’s rich in texture and spans a range of moods.
They come straight out of the traps with a full on brass-led freak-out in the shape of ‘Watermelon Hands’, then slow it down with the expansive sultry nod-out of ‘The Adjacent Possible’. Through the spacey, jittery title track, via the searing, incendiary guitar work that overlays a strolling bass on ‘When The Fire Hits the Forest’ that eventually simmers into a Doors-like throb toward the end, to the wild sax riffing on ‘Ataxia’, ‘Vitamin F’ is a rich and varied beast. It’s also rather good: the kind of jazz album that’s likely to wig even the most jazz-averse listeners.
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