OSTERMEIER, M. - CHANCE RECONSTRUCTION (CD)

"M. Ostermeier already has two CDs this year - both in mini-album form. Percolate ([ parvo art ]) featured his acoustic and Rhodes piano mixed with Labradford-esque guitars over minimal electronic beats. On Lakefront (Hibernate) the beats had evaporated and the infusion of electronic textures and field recordings yielded something more organic, more haunting. Throughout, the fragmented piano established a melancholic and reflective mood but more through style than through melody. Here on Chance Reconstruction, his first full-length release, both mood and melody come into focus. The acoustic piano provides a warmth and familiarity that offsets the abstract electronics and field recordings that decorate the periphery. Unlike the thick melancholy that filled every corner of Lakefront, Chance Reconstruction at times displays a wistful playfulness and at others a peaceful contentment that comes from accepting and enjoying the world as it is. But even as the form shifts from meandering tone poems to miniature Goldmund-esque piano pieces, there is no doubt that the operating word still is 'melancholy.' The hesitant piano melodies take on an almost conversational form, but from someone repeating and rephrasing his thoughts as he talks to himself, imagining different outcomes of some unfortunate event." (label info)