Review: The Greatest Hoax – Enso

The Greatest Hoax
Enso

Self-Released
Street: 11.20
The Greatest Hoax = Steve Hauschildt + Boards of Canada + Panabrite

Enso comprises seven opuses built around solo piano compositions put through a bevy of filters and shifting tonalities. This results in the total transformation from straightforward to dreamlike and distant—something akin to waking up from a dream while the particulars fade into the ether and you are left with nothing more than the impression. That impression is a bucolic, languid fade-out from defined objects to muted colors and shapes, similar to the way The Greatest Hoax’s stirring synth work (sounding like it is coming from a warbled solo-synth, private-press vinyl record) will mirror the bright piano arpeggios before subsuming the entire track in fading golden light. The leaves are changing. Take this into the mountains with you. –Ryan Hall