Pitchfork

Originally released as part of a split 12" on FatCat, "Badminton Girl" is tacked on as a bonus track to the Endless Summer reissue. The track is certainly in line with Fennesz's work just after the turn of the millennium, as he cycles through chords that in another era would serve as the foundation for a rock song, but here are pounded into shapes imaginable only through software. There's a melancholy tug as overtones hover and cluster into something resembling bells, while fat pipes of guitar distortion are sucked through chutes too narrow, stuttering hesitantly before rushing into the darkness in steady waves. A sketch, for sure, and not quite worthy of the multi-layered complexity of the album it's now paired with, but still demonstrative of the man's finely tuned ear and instantly identifiable sound.