Gourami – Fassine (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

Fassine has been leaving a trail of acoustic breadcrumbs like a musical Hansel and Gretel…but with an extra Hansel, all year. That enticing journey has finally paid off with this masterful collection of chilled and forward thinking tracks and whilst those following the teasing trail are going to be fairly familiar with what is at the end of the journey, it is great to have the music collected in one neat package.

And if the songs were lapped up as individual releases, as a complete package Gourami underlines the chilled and sweeping majesty which flows through their music. In turns it wanders dream-pop landscapes, ambient minimalism and futuristic dance spaces, sonorous chilled alt-pop, ultra cool indie vibes and even neo-classical grandeur.

All interesting places in their own right but thread them together end to end, weave elements of one through the other, cross boundaries and push through generic barriers and you have nothing less than a bright new horizon for pop music to walk towards. Hopefully others will follow their example, break conventions and explore new musical territories but they must realise that as they wander wide-eyed into these new sonic pastures, they will see three sets of foot prints ahead of them and quite possibly another trail of breadcrumbs.