The fourth release from Dusseldorf-based pianist and composer Volker Bertelmann is at once nostalgic, optimistic, and weighty, with deft melody sparkling among percussion and drive. Ferndorf carries an evocative richness and depth throughout its quick-paced, often light-hearted compositions. Named after the small German village where Bertelmann grew up, the album is a Utopia-tinged paean to the simple nature-bound life he lived as a child, filtered through the knowing lens of the world-traveling city-dweller who left the village for a reason.