Welcome Tourist - B. Fleischmann

Welcome Tourist

B. Fleischmann
Morr Music.

SCQ Rating: 76%

For the well-acknowledged master of the Morr Music sound, it’s surprising to discover that B. Fleischmann’s new track named ‘Guided By Beats’ is actually guided by a simple guitar line, which as a precursor to 2006’s Humbucking Coil, is deftly matched to Fleischmann’s calm beats. However, unlike The Humbucking Coil, which was a refined eight-song collection of guitar and electronics, Welcome Tourist is more varied in both tone and instrumentation. Incorporating piano, guitars, vibraphones, saxophone and a variety of other brass and percussive tools, Fleischmann treats many of these electronic compositions with post-rock arrangements; ‘As If’ carries the same ambient flourishes as Mogwai’s most experimental material while ‘A Letter From Home’ is almost completely performed with traditional instruments – piano, live drums and saxophone that are closer in stride to Canada’s Broken Social Scene than a leading member of Germany’s electronica scene. What’s more curious about this song than its organic structure is that it’s the most impressive track on display.

All the same, you’d have to be listening to the wrong album to ignore how at peace Welcome Tourist sounds alongside the Morr Music roster. The digital beats, relaxed but prominent, with their ear-friendly melodies are ever-present and despite some confident steps outside his laptop fortress, Fleischmann remains on top of his game with a group of moody instrumentals: ‘02/00’, ‘Pass By’, and ‘Sleep’ – a sweet closer with Christof Kurzmann on vocals.

Where Fleischmann’s broad focus eventually hurts Welcome Tourist is directly following that aforementioned album highlight; ‘Le Desir’ is a preposterously naïve song that somehow escaped the cutting-room floor, featuring lyrics like: "did you ever think of a song to sing that would bring equality did you ever think to cross the Nile on a little hollow tree/ did you ever picture the Americas and how the poor could get more wealthy/ did you ever picture that the single one could change the world". That, as well as some tunes that outstay their welcome, prevent this record from attaining the concentrated precision of The Humbucking Coil.