Fractal Guitar 2 (Teaser)

Excerpts from "Fractal Guitar 2", a new album from guitarist/composer Stephan Thelen, released on March 9, 2021, by Moonjune Records.

stephanthelen.bandcamp.com
moonjune.com

The making of this album, the successor to the first Fractal Guitar album, has been quite an adventure during quite a unique time in history. The journey started (although I didn’t know it at the time) on November 2, 2019 in Oakland, California, when Henry, Chris, Andy and I were recording tracks at MegaSonic studio. When I returned to Zürich, the world as we knew it soon changed drastically due to the quickly spreading Coronavirus. While it was a time to rethink the values that had governed our lives, it was also (thanks to the wonders of the internet) a disguised opportunity to record an album in lockdown.

As with the first Fractal Guitar album, I owe a great deal to all the fantastic musicians who play on this album, this time especially to Jon Durant, Barry Cleveland, Andi Pupato and Markus Reuter. Special thanks to Tim Motzer, Michael Manring and Bill Laswell, who were all part of this project, but only appear on "Fractal Guitar 2 Remixes", a companion album also available on Bandcamp. Further thanks to my friend Anil Prasad, who introduced me to at least half the musicians on this album, to the Muir family for their generous hospitality at a time when traveling was still possible and to Leonardo "Moonjune" Pavkovic for continuous and unwavering support.

Stephan Thelen, Zürich, September 2020

Tracklisting:

01 COSMIC KRAUTROCK 14:08

Markus Reuter: touch guitar U8, soundscapes
Jon Durant: electric guitar
David Torn: electric guitar, live looping
Bill Walker: electric guitar, live looping, feedback
Stefan Huth: touch guitar AU8 (bass)
Andi Pupato: percussion
Andy Brugger: drums
Stephan Thelen: electric guitar, choppy organ, granular synth, programming

02 FRACTAL GUITAR 2 7:58

Markus Reuter: touch guitar U8
Jon Durant: fretless guitar
Bill Walker: lap steel
Barry Cleveland: 6 & 12-string guitar, filtered guitar
Stefan Huth: touch guitar AU8 (bass)
Andi Pupato: percussion
Manuel Pasquinelli: drums
Stephan Thelen: electric guitar, fractal guitar, formant swell

03 MERCURY TRANSIT 12:03

Jon Durant: electric guitar, VCS3 guitar
Barry Cleveland: bowed guitar, revox loops
Markus Reuter: soundscapes
Stefan Huth: touch guitar U8 (bass)
Fabio Anile: keyboards
Andi Pupato: percussion
Andy Brugger: drums
Stephan Thelen: electric guitar, e-bow, particles, keyboards, programming

04 LADDER TO THE STARS 14:54

Henry Kaiser: electric guitar
Chris Muir: electric guitar, live looping
Markus Reuter: touch guitar U8, soundscapes
Jon Durant: filtered and sliced cloud guitar
Fabio Anile: electric piano
Andy West: bass guitar
Andi Pupato: percussion
Manuel Pasquinelli: drums
Stephan Thelen: electric guitar, keyboards

05 CELESTIAL NAVIGATION 12:29

Markus Reuter: touch guitar U8, soundscapes
Jon Durant: fretless guitar
Bill Walker: electric guitar, lap steel
Stefan Huth: touch guitar U8 (bass)
Andi Pupato: percussion
Manuel Pasquinelli: drums
Stephan Thelen: electric guitar, e-bow, particles, keyboards, programming

06 POINT OF INFLECTION 12:12

David Torn: electric guitar, live looping
Jon Durant: fretless guitar, cloud guitar
Barry Cleveland: 6 &12-string guitars, bowed guitar, chopped guitar, fuzz orchestration
Markus Reuter: touch guitar U8, soundscapes
Stefan Huth: touch guitar S8 (bass)
Andi Pupato: percussion
Andy Brugger: drums
Stephan Thelen: electric guitar, granular synth

Produced by Markus Reuter & Stephan Thelen.

Executive Producer: Leonardo Pavkovic for Moonjune Records
℗ & © Moonjune Music/2021

All tracks written by Stephan Thelen except: "Ladder to the Stars" written by Stephan Thelen & Fabio Anile and "Point of Inflection" written by Stephan Thelen & Barry Cleveland.

Recorded at various locations across Europe and North America between November 2019 and July 2020.

Recording engineer at MegaSonic, Oakland, California: Jeremy Goody.

Andy Brugger’s drums recorded by Reto Muggli at Powerplay Sudio B, Zürich, Switzerland.

Manuel Pasquinelli’s drums recorded by Benno Kaiser at his studio in Aarau, Switzerland.

Post-production and mix by Benjamin Schäfer & Markus Reuter for Unsung Productions, Berlin, Germany, August 2020.

Mastered by Alexandr Vatagin in Vienna, Austria, September 2020.

David Torn appears courtesy of ECM Records.