Slow Healer. Lyenn

The music on Slow Healer has something familiar. Not in the least because of .No's radio show 'Kairos' where music by his cousin, Dutch composer Hans Kockelmans features regularly. Not the avant garde work, but the small guitar compositions of just over a minute. Lyenn's guitar playing is a compliment to Kockelmans' work.

Slow Healer is Lyenn's second album after an album in 2009 and an EP in 2011. Both with somewhat fantastic names, which make Slow Healer sound extremely down to earth. The music itself is less down to earth. The instrumentation is very down to earth, the mood elementary at best, the atmosphere is mystical. All not unlike the country the album was recorded, Iceland.

The album was recorded after life altering experiences, which made recording a necessity says the bio that came with the album. The directness does not shine through in the softly played music, music that would fit in 'Kairos' immediately. Nils Frahm and Silmus e.g. with singing added to the instrumentals (and Antony, if I could listen to his (her) music) come to mind, but also Thom Yorke. Imagine a Radiohead without the electronics, without rock, but just a piano or acoustic guitar and Lyenn singing with his high voice. Tranquil of mind after a retreat in a Nepalese monastery. Just some images coming to mind listening to Slow Healer.

Promo photo

This title is so aptly chosen. This is a slow album. The ultimate unhasting. An album that you have to let into your life. There's no connecting possible without a concious choice in the matter. If you don't, you may never notice what's going on, or better that something is going on. One has to sit down and let the slow sounds pour over oneself. I did and submerged.

'In Reveries' opens Slow Healer. Just a few notes and the voice of Lyenn in a lower register, before it shoots up. A dark guitar, loads of studio silence, a banjo and a bowed string instrument, probably a cello. If you like this description, I can stop writing. You know it all. And, if you don't, I can stop as well. The only thing I can do is give you the advice to try again when in a different mood, but that is all.

Lyenn has produced a monumental album of downsized proportions. Slow Healer is extremely humble, where Lyenn knows for 100% he doesn't have to be.

Wo.

You can listen to 'Fading' here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg0hj2IMyjM

or buy the album here: