DL only – 1 track – 23:41
Touch V33.60
Releases 22nd February 2026
Available now on Bandcamp
Photography & design by Jon Wozencroft
Fennesz writes: “The piece was recorded in the last days of May 2024. I discarded my original concepts for this piece right after starting the work. This was partly due to the fact that I happened to listen to a piece by Roland S. Howard that day, who I consider one of the greatest guitarists. So, I started again with a blank canvas. I focused on the essential components and instruments that had defined my work so far: guitars, string instruments in general and samples thereof, as well as a few synthesizers with a particular focus on the now largely forgotten synthesis principle of physical modelling. Microtonality and the decay behaviour of strings were important to me. The piece, conceived as a sound installation, is meant to blend into everyday soundscapes and occasionally stand out. However, it can also be listened to at full volume on headphones.”
‘The Last Days of May’ was previously released on Longform Editions.
In 2024 Christian Fennesz contributed a new composition titled ‘The Last Days of May’ to Volume, the innovative music series presented by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 5-21 July 2024. ‘Threshold’ is a new music programme devised in collaboration with Longform Editions, the Sydney-based, internationally renowned online ‘gallery for listening’. For the duration of Volume 2024, recordings of four world-premiere compositions were played at the thresholds of Naala Badu and Naala Nura – the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ north and south buildings.
Reviews:
Boomkat (UK):
Originally conceived as a sound installation, this is Fennesz deploying a back-to-basics, ‘Venice’-style melter, packed with laptop-rinsed, exaggerated riffs and noisy, sea foam synth moans.
Fennesz had a concept for this one when he embarked on it in May last year, but tossed it out after listening to Roland S. Howard and being reminded of his priorities. Starting again with a blank canvas, he took his guitar, some sampled string instruments and a couple of physical modeling synthesizers and began to focus his attention on the strings’ decay, building up a smeary 20+ minute soundscape that could “blend into everyday soundscapes and occasionally stand out.” Honestly, it’s his loveliest, most straightforward material in ages, slowing down the romantic, bleary-eyed eyed riffs that rooted ‘Endless Summer’ and ‘Venice’ and concentrating on the pace and the negative space.
Letting the strings ring out, Fennesz adds only delicate treatments at first, backing the resonant echoes with whirring digital shards, wary glitches and suave microtonal gongs. And as it evolves, the piece builds like a brisk wind, hitting a sober noise crescendo that rattles rather than ruptures. Never obtrusive, it sounds like radio interference that eventually settles into a euphoric, orchestral hum, the riffs stretched and morphed into thick waves before they vanish into glassy, haunted xenharmonic drones. Gorgeous stuff.