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Apr 4, 2019The album’s strengths aren’t limited to its bookends. ‘Rainfall’ would go down as the instrumental track of the year if not for the vocal contributions of Katharina Caecilia Fennesz, which blend so gracefully in the mix that you might not even realize they’re a human instrument.
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Apr 2, 2019There’s something special about Agora in how it integrates the immediate pleasure of his pop influences with the patience of his extended works.
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Apr 5, 2019Agora is hypnotic, transient and valuable and a rarity which although oppressive at times ultimately delivers on a promise as tangible as it is striking.
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The WireApr 3, 2019The results are gorgeous. [Apr 2019, p.54]
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Mar 27, 2019Fennesz has produced a maximalist experience with apparently minimal equipment but this is not about the machines rather the human producing the sounds. Agora is another deep exploration of the boundaries of experimental guitar ambience in which to lose oneself.
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Mar 27, 2019The unpolished feel of Agora is a bit striking for a Fennesz release, but it's clearly just as carefully considered as his other albums, and makes a welcome addition to his catalog.
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Mar 27, 2019This is an album that is full of glorious melodies, harsh noise and field recordings. Agora is the strongest, and most cohesive, album that Fennesz has released in over a decade, and that is no mean feat.
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UncutMar 27, 2019Much of Agora recalls his 2001 breakthrough album Endless Summer: long, processed guitar drones engendering an atmosphere of extreme, if rather familiar, calm. [Apr 2019, p.29]
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Mar 27, 2019The album is somewhat lacking in range, but otherwise, Agora offers no evidence of compromise. If anything, Fennesz turned that bit of adversity into artistic license.
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May 15, 2019Agora is a lot of things, but one thing it is not is corny. But in the process he has sacrificed a whole lot of virtues. Where Fennesz once generated productive frisson in the mind-body continuum of his listeners, now his music stares blankly at them, as if hoping that their and not his affective dispositions will create the passion that sustains worthwhile musical practice.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 10 out of 15
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Mixed: 4 out of 15
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Negative: 1 out of 15
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Apr 4, 2019