Manual Ascend CD

Jonas Munk delivers more cascading melodies and shards of fuzzy guitar dramatics on Ascend, his second LP as Manual for Morr Music. It's probably no small coincidence that the sleeve design for the album resembles Fennesz's Endless Summer from a year prior. (The similarity is blindingly obvious, actually.) The scenic shot of a sunlit coast just prior to sundown imparts the environment that is most conducive to the album, complementing it in an ideal manner. The approach of the music holds something in common with Endless Summer as well. Like Christian Fennesz, Munk combines treated guitar with glitch elements and an IDM producer's sense of mind-boggling electronic manipulation. However, Munk's more of a pop boy. More importantly, he has a sound of his own. His distinctive melodies have an impossible-to-evade presence, practically shooting beams of light, and they're just as likely to be crammed with weepy fragility as they are blissful rapture. The opening "Midnight Is Where the Day Begins" springs to life warily (creaking, clanking glitch effects), taking a couple minutes to wind up before eventually launching into the stratosphere with clapping drum machines and several rays of bizarre drones. "The Distance" is another one that starts small and ends big, beginning with flapping percussive noises that enter from various angles and end up falling into the background, as several gleaming elements from guitars and keyboards take center stage. Despite the inherent warmth and brightness of Munk's recordings, they always sound intensely private. Certainly the basement in which these songs are made has several windows that allow the sun to shine in and affect this gifted producer's work. ~ Andy Kellman