Christos Fanaras: “Impermanence”

Initially there’s something ecclesiastical, even spiritual about Christos Fanaras‘ “Impermanence,” a track hewn from his most recent album of the same name. In timbre and tone the piece begins with minor key synth drones, a celestial atmosphere illustrated by the abundance of gold backdropping the Sufi-style dancing of the solitary dancer. What begins as a blissful, breezy synth-float erupts into a dirgy, monophonic distortion that eradicates any sense of innocence. The Peter Greenaway-stylings of the video, with it’s juxtaposition of excess with minimalism, the fripperies of alcohol-fueled socialising with the death of beauty, suggest the impermanence of morality that makes a mockery of the earlier spiritual tones. It’s incredibly cinematic, a 5 minute excursion soundtracked by Fanaras’ analogue synths: there’s any number of narratives that can be derived from it. Christos Fanaras is a Greek solo artist who’s previous work as Jack Shirt explored acoustic song-forms, but under his own name he has embarked on a project inflected with the outre leanings of early Tangerine Dream and the insular view of power electronics.

Christos Fanaras’ website contains more information on other collaborations he’s been involved in. Check out his duo Masters with Milos Kemecsi

Written by Michael Kasparis