Delicate, tranquil, with intricate details carefully layered one upon the other like watercolour washes... the effects of this collaborative double album produced by Christian Fennesz and Ryuichi Sakamoto may not be dramatic, but slowly infiltrate the listener’s mind in an almost subliminal fashion.
The gentle, minimalist piano playing that begins disc two with a soothing and tranquil air wavers into dissonance, changing the mood before the atmosphere returns to something altogether more pleasant, like the sun breaking through in the wake of a rain shower.
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Softly played strings make an appearance on the 4th track on Disc 2 (the 24 tracks are simply listed 01-12 on each disc). Their presence is slight, yet the effect is substantial in the context of works so delicately arranged. The real achievement of ‘Flumina’ is the way in which the intricacy and detail is so subtly blended that it passes almost unnoticed, the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.
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