2026, Week 4. 10 singles (2)

Because of the ladies' singles special edition of earlier this week, here's the second new singles edition of this week. Again, there is a very diverse set of songs and artist to explore, so enjoy!

New Leafs. The Reds, Pinks and Purples

The Reds, Pinks and Purples so far is Erwin Zijleman territory as those following this blog will recognise. Recently this single reached me and I decided to give it a chance. New Leaf is a nice indie ballad, that is built around a riff played on an acoustic guitar that just goes on and on and on. On top of it this gentle song is played with on top of that the soft, almost whispering voice of The Reds, Pinks and Purples' front man Glenn Donaldson. Despite the chords changing in the chorus, that riff does not. The other instruments do. it could be a piano playing a few notes, a raging slide guitar mixed deep into the background, like a thunderstorm in the distance, or an electric guitar. The bass and drums provide the solid ground for the others to play around that one riff. Beautifully done and full of atmosphere.

Marathon. Maria BC

Listening to Marathon, the title track of Maria BC's upcoming third album (27-02), the sentence "I've got a good reason, for taking the easy way out", sprang into my mind. The quote from The Beatles' 'Day Tripper' is appropriate, as darkness was enveloping me from all sides. In 2023 I reviewed a previous single, called 'Amber'. It made me think of a church song. Marathon does not, the artist's name of course does. If Maria was 13 or 14 when she gave birth to Jesus, as some say, I can only hope for her that her thoughts were never a bleak as this Maria BC in 2026 portrays. Marathon is somewhere between dark sounds and song, with Maria BC singing over it with a high voice. I can't make out any words though. Dark guitar chords put themselves as a pillow over soft piano notes. They rise even more when the singing starts. Like a prisoner in a too small cell, the music wraps itself around her voice. And then I make out the word "afraid". This is some dark music, folks.

Panacea. Celine Cairo 

In September 2021 Erwin Zijleman reviewed Celine Cairo's album 'Overflow' and was obviously very enthusiastic. With Panacea she returns to the music front. Panacea is a very cool sounding song. It is as if everybody is holding back to not show too many emotions. The result of this restraint is that Celine Cairo's voice starts to glow more and more. The instruments wrap themselves around her in a very organic way. The lyrics speak of undertow and counterflow but also that her head is above water now. Luctor et emergo set to music. Although Celine Cairo is a new name to me, she has multimillion streams on Spotify and performed with the Metropole Orkest. With her new single she is announcing her upcoming album also called 'Panacea' It is scheduled for 18 June.

Dr Love. Would-be-goods

Dr. Love is a single with the length of a mid-60s pop song. It has the melancholy feel of a French sigh girl song from the age but not the poppy innocence songs of the age had. The melancholy feeling is so much deeper. This is the expression of a grown woman and Jessica Griffin is, with issues almost no 17 year old singers, nor their 27 year old songwriters experienced then. Griffin returns to the record releasing world with this second single of the Would-be-goods new album 'Tears Before Bedtime'. Dr. Love is a bittersweet song that reminds me of the time when songs were just fun, while putting my two feet firmly on the ground in the here and now. Like a wake up call pulling me back into the real world. That will not stop me from listening to Dr. Love and dream a little anyway.

Designed To Lose. The Twilight Sad

When did I listen to Big Country for the last time? A very good question that popped into my head listening to Designed To Lose for the first time. I really wouldn't know. It may well be decades. The Twilight Sad does not use that guitar as if a bag pipe sound, but the guitars do have that high sound. To add to the feel, there is the Scottish accent of the singer, even if it's light. The band produces an 80s feel on this single, including the gloom that comes with the territory. When I read that the singer of The Twilight Sad battles with mental illness, the comparison I've just made becomes rather scary. To end on a positive note, the band will release its new album on 27 March and it is called 'It's The Long Goodbye'.

I Wish You Well. Mylo Bybee

As reported late last year, Mylo Bybee is from Boise, Idaho and on route to release an EP called 'Revisions' on 20 February. After 'Time Machine' this is the second time the band finds itself on WoNoBlog. With I Wish You Well the band shows two sides to itself. Between the loud intro and second half of the song, the band shows that it is able to contain itself. The two sides make for interesting listening, like enjoying that wild bass guitar parts that go on in the background and the drummer who wants to escape the whole of the time, until he can finally lead the way in the second half. Mylo Bybee is really playing with the fabric of the song. No, this single has not succeeded to convince me for 100%, but only by trying can one become better and reach the goal. For now I Wish You Well is certainly good enough.

Second Time Around. The Spackles

Okay, Spackle McKraken will not be invited to sing in a Bach choir (sorry, if this is your ambition). His voice works like a miracle for a song like Second Time Around though. The Spackles return to the blog with a fine, up tempo garage rock song in which the guitar of Marie Slurrie plays fast chord changes and progressions. The kind of song that puts a smile on your face if you are a fan of an uncomplicated rock song like Second Time Around is. Energy is there the whole time and there is a quieter interlude, in a 2.04 minutes song, which makes for an intriguing change. A short breather for everyone, except for Ms. Slurrie who keeps the chords flying, chugging her guitar along, preparing for a fiery solo as well. Last week the band released its new EP, 'Music For Blockheads'. You can hit me with that rhythm stick alright.

Against The Dying Of The Light. José González

Sweden's José González is on route to release his fifth album, with the same name as this single. Release date, 27 March. It is possible to be extremely short on this song. González is his soft-spoken self. His music is totally unobtrusive, soft like a murmuring brook in a forest. An acoustic guitar, a bass and very soft drumming over which González sings, double tracked and harmonious. If you put the song on, you better pay attention as it is over before you know it. If you do, there's more than enough to enjoy in between all that modest playing.

 

Bored. Melanie Baker

In December Melanie Baker made her entrance on this blog for the first time with her singe 'Sad Clown' and she is here again already. With Bored she presents the same mix, alternative rock like Hole, some slacker diction, explosions in the choruses. Again, the mix works really well. Baker may be going after a married woman who is the woman of her dreams. From there the story develops, unapologetic in lyrics and music. The music has this bouncy quality that potentially may make festivals explode, if she manages to a) get there and b) finds a way for people to get to know the song before the festivals. Bored will work really well here. Two singles underway and what I'm hearing sounds great. 'Somebody Help Me, I’m Being Spontaneous!' is set for release on 10 April.

Sorry Eyes. Pictish Trail

Pictish Trail, or Johnny Lynch, can be found on this blog with three albums, the latest from 2022, but not a single single. That is taken care of today. With Sorry Eyes, Lynch presents a very electronic song, where warbling synths hurtle over each other, creating the layer that makes the song more than a man with his guitar lamenting a lost love. In fact, together with producer Mike Lindsay (Tungg, LUMP) Lynch seems to have stripped away most of the original song as it must have been conceived at home and rebuilt it into what we hear on Sorry Eyes. The result is a song with so many details, that it may well be that someone will hear an unheard detail during the 1000th listening session. The electronics give Sorry Eyes an 80s feel, the rest of the song that of a timeless ballad. An intriguing mix. Album 'Life Slime' will be released on 10 April.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

still, there is the sea. Ambre Ciel

De Canadese muzikante Ambre Ciel debuteerde in juni met het prachtige still, there is the sea, waarop betoverend mooie en beeldende klanken samenvloeien met haar misschien nog wel mooiere stem.

Het voor de zomer verschenen still, there is the sea is het debuutalbum van de Canadese muzikante Ambre Ciel. Het is wat mij betreft een bijzonder album. De neoklassieke klanken die op het album zijn te horen hoor ik wel vaker, maar de arrangementen van Ambre Ciel zijn wel heel mooi en worden bovendien gecombineerd met invloeden uit de ambient en de new age. Het debuutalbum van Ambre Ciel wordt nog bijzonderder wanneer ze haar stem toevoegt aan de beeldende muziek. Ze beschikt over een bijzonder mooie stem, die warmte, gevoel en structuur toevoegt aan de songs op still, there is the sea. Ambre Ciel imponeert direct, maar dit fraaie debuut wordt alleen maar mooier en indrukwekkender.

Voor de release hoorde ik een preview van het album still, there is the sea van Ambre Ciel. Dit voorproefje maakte me echt heel nieuwsgierig naar het debuutalbum van de Canadese muzikante en dat album is inmiddels verschenen. Het is een album met acht songs en net iets meer dan een half uur muziek en in dat half uur maakt Ambre Ciel wat mij betreft diepe indruk. 

Het debuutalbum van de muzikante uit Montreal opent echt prachtig. In eerste instantie zijn er de neoklassiek aandoende klanken die direct zorgen voor een bijzondere sfeer, waarna de waanzinnige stem van Ambre Ciel invalt. Het is een stem om onmiddellijk verliefd op te worden, maar de zang van de Canadese muzikante wordt vervolgens alleen maar mooier en intenser. 

Dat geldt overigens ook voor de muziek in de openingstrack van still, there is the sea. De strijkers zwellen flink aan en ook de pianoakkoorden worden steeds wat steviger aangezet, maar de stem van Ambre Ciel blijft centraal staan. Het is een bijzonder mooie en subtiele stem die echt prachtig door de ruimte zweeft, maar het is ook een stem met een uiterst subtiel ruw randje, die zorgt voor flink wat gevoel in de zang van Ambre Ciel, die overigens ook violiste en pianiste is. 

De vijf minuten durende openingstrack van still, there is the sea is in alle opzichten imponerend. De zang en de muziek zijn echt wonderschoon, maar het is ook een track waarin de spanning prachtig wordt opgebouwd. Het zijn ingrediënten die terugkeren in vrijwel alle songs op het album, maar Ambre Ciel legt steeds net wat andere accenten. 

In de tweede track worden de klassiek aandoende strijkerspartijen gecombineerd met klanken die ik meer associeer met ambient of new age en bovendien zingt Ambre Ciel in deze tweede track in het Frans, wat zorgt voor een duidelijk andere sfeer. Het effect is hetzelfde want ook in de tweede track wordt je meegesleept door de breed uitwaaiende klanken en de prachtige strijkersarrangementen en imponeert Ambre Ciel met haar bijna onwaarschijnlijk mooie stem. 

Ik probeer het regelmatig met albums die in het hokje neoklassiek worden geduwd en dat zijn er tegenwoordig heel wat. Het zijn albums die ik in eerste instantie vaak heel mooi vind, maar uiteindelijk houden deze albums mijn aandacht meestal niet vast. Ambre Ciel doet dat wel en dat doet ze door haar stem toe te voegen aan de klassiek aandoende en beeldende klanken. Klankentapijten worden hierdoor songs en daar val ik makkelijker voor. 

Ook als de zang een tijd op zich laat wachten of helemaal niet komt houdt de Canadese muzikante me aan de speakers gekluisterd, want wat wordt er mooi en sfeervol gespeeld op still, there is the sea. De labels neoklassiek, ambient en new age kwamen al voorbij, maar het debuutalbum van Ambre Ciel bevat zo nu en dan ook passages die goed in het hokje filmmuziek passen en die bijna vanzelf fraaie beelden op het netvlies toveren. 

Bij eerste beluistering maakte still, there is the sea al een verpletterende indruk, maar hoe vaker ik naar het debuutalbum van Ambre Ciel luister, hoe meer ik word betoverd door de prachtige klanken, de fraaie spanningsbogen en de bijzonder mooie zang. Het debuutalbum van de muzikante uit Montreal doet het misschien nog wel het best wanneer de zon onder is. Daar moeten we op het moment wat langer op wachten, maar het is het wachten meer dan waard.

Erwin Zijleman

 

Je kunt still, there is the sea hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://ambreciel.bandcamp.com/album/still-there-is-the-sea 

Iris Silver Mist. Jenny Hval

De Noorse muzikante Jenny Hval betovert op haar nieuwe album Iris Silver Mist met wonderschone klanken vol avontuur, die je meenemen op een bedwelmende en buitengewoon fascinerende luistertrip.

Ik kwam de muziek van de Noorse muzikante Jenny Hval ruim tien jaar geleden voor het eerst tegen en kon er toen nog niet goed mee uit de voeten. Sindsdien is haar muziek stapje voor stapje wat toegankelijker geworden en ben ik steeds meer onder de indruk geraakt van haar muziek. Het zorgt er voor dat ik ieder nieuw album van Jenny Hval weer net wat mooier vind dan het vorige album en dat gaat ook weer op voor haar nieuwe album Iris Silver Mist. Het is een conceptalbum dat continu de fantasie prikkelt, maar dat ook een unieke sfeer creëert. Het is een stuk minder experimenteel dan de muziek die de Noorse muzikante tien jaar geleden maakte, maar het klinkt nog altijd heel bijzonder. 

Ik heb een aantal jaren geworsteld met de muziek van de Noorse muzikante Jenny Hval. Haar eerste albums intrigeerden me absoluut en waren bij vlagen ook zeker mooi, maar het waren ook albums waar ik veel te vaak geen chocola van kon maken, waardoor ik ze uiteindelijk toch liet liggen. 

Het veranderde in 2016, toen Jenny Hval haar album Blood Bitch uitbracht. Het is een album dat ik pas ontdekte nadat het in meerdere jaarlijstjes was opgedoken, maar vervolgens liet ik me snel overtuigen door de bijzondere mix van elektronische muziek, klassieke muziek en avant-garde en de al even bijzondere zang van Jenny Hval. 

Sinds Blood Bitch zijn de albums van de Noorse muzikante steeds iets toegankelijker geworden, waardoor ik The Practice Of Love uit 2020 en Classic Objects uit 2022 nog wat makkelijker omarmde dan Blood Bitch uit 2016. Toegankelijk is in het geval van Jenny Hval overigens een zeer relatief begrip, want voor dertien in een dozijn popsongs ben je bij haar nog altijd niet aan het juiste adres. 

Het deze week verschenen Iris Silver Mist is een stuk minder experimenteel dan de vroege albums van Jenny Hval en is weer net wat toegankelijker dan Classic Objects, maar iedereen die op zoek is naar hitgevoelige popsongs die na één keer horen voorgoed in je hoofd zitten, kunnen waarschijnlijk niet overweg met het nieuwe album van Jenny Hval. 

De basis van de meeste songs op het nieuwe album van Jenny Hval kreeg vorm tijdens de coronapandemie. De muzikante uit Oslo raakte geïntrigeerd door de wijze waarop geuren verbonden kunnen zijn met herinneringen. Het levert met Iris Silver Mist een conceptalbum op over geuren en herinneringen en ik vind het een bijzonder mooi album. 

De geuren moet je er uiteraard zelf bij verzinnen, maar het nieuwe album van Jenny Hval prikkelt wel een aantal andere zintuigen. In de openingstrack hoor je fraaie atmosferische klanken, bijzondere ritmes, uiteenlopende natuurgeluiden en de opvallend mooie zang van de Noorse muzikante, die haar stem ook gebruikt als instrument. 

In de openingstrack is er ook weer direct de combinatie van ingrediënten die makkelijk het oor strelen en ingrediënten die de fantasie prikkelen. Het zijn ingrediënten die terugkeren in meerdere songs op het album, hier en daar gecombineerd met bijzondere elektronica, die varieert van nostalgisch tot futuristisch. 

Ik zal de muziek van Jenny Hval op Iris Silver Mist niet snel experimenteel noemen of in het hokje avant-garde stoppen, maar alledaags is het album geen moment. Jenny Hval klinkt echt totaal anders dan op haar vroege albums, maar haar muziek is, ondanks het wat toegankelijkere karakter, nog steeds avontuurlijk en verrassend. 

Ik moest nog wel even wennen aan haar vorige albums, maar Iris Silver Mist vond ik eigenlijk direct mooi. Het is een album met een duidelijk Scandinavische sfeer, maar het op het legendarische 4AD label verschenen album herinnert ook aan een aantal in het verleden op dit label verschenen albums, zeker wanneer wat ambient achtige klanken domineren. 

Iris Silver Mist is soms bedwelmend of sprookjesachtig mooi, maar soms ook vervreemdend en ongrijpbaar. Ik heb lang moeten wennen aan de muziek van Jenny Hval, maar hetgeen dat ze laat horen op haar nieuwe album is bijzonder indrukwekkend en echt wonderschoon.

Erwin Zijleman

 

Je kunt Iris Silver Mist hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://jennyhval.bandcamp.com/album/iris-silver-mist 

2024, week 49. 10 singles

No extra words today. Just, enjoy!

As Good As It Gets (feat. Mitski). Katie Gavin

We open this week with a dream track by an artist who finds herself on WoNoBlog for the first time. Katie Gavin is accompanied by Mitski. As Good As It Gets is a love song says Gavin. It is a song about being totally relaxed and comfortable in a settled relationship, about looking forward to getting old and taking on the highs and lows together. Gavin sets this topic against soft music, present, sure but soft. As relaxed as the topic of the lyrics is. The mood it creates though is one of urgency and focus. The mysterious rhythm in the background, whatever it is, gives the song something extra, otherworldly, that befits the dreamy way of singing by especially Katie Gavin. Some instruments are allowed to step forward for a few notes, after which they recede or disappear. As Good As It Gets is an extremely nice song from the album 'What A Relief'.

In My Chambers EP. Wiri Donna

Well over two years ago Wiri Donna (Bianca Bailey) debuted on this blog first with a single and then her debut EP 'Being Alone'. On In My Chambers Wiri Donna pushes in the pedal some more. The first songs on the EP are very much alternative rock, where she is not afraid to move towards the edges of a song. Not that songs are off key, but the musicians are stretching what is considered conventional. For people like me this means that things get exciting and worthwhile checking out seriously. Further on in the EP you will find that the light and the shade approach to music, I mentioned Shocking Blue, The Police and Nirvana as examples in 2022, return on In My Chambers. Things could undoubtedly get wilder, in her choice of music Wiri Donna goes at pretty wild alright. Ms. Bailey loves to rock out, that much is sure. Much more so than in 2022. Alternative rock fans should find their way to In My Chambers, as things do not get much better than this. Wiri Donna convinces fully. Two EPs down, I'm a fan.

Raving At The Wall. Eric Barlow

Again a debut, as a solo artist. True connaisseurs will have encountered Barlow as a member of the Boston and NYC music scene since the 1990s. Which I was not. Thanks to Malibou Lou I am these last several years. Today Eric Barlow enters my life with his second solo single for the upcoming album 'Still Moving Parts'. Fans of music from many decades ago, let's say from the 1960s to 1990s will hear what I'm hearing on Raving At The Wall. A mix of pop and rock that sings of the joys of life and great fun music is. Watch out for a great riff here, an oh so nice lead melody there and a song overall that contains small snippets of The Beatles, Bowie, The Lemonheads and what not. Raving at the wall is not what I call having fun. However, when it's caught in music like Eric Barlow presents, count me in for a short while.

Détour. La Sécurité

Debut number three already this week. Montreal, Canada based band La Sécurité signed to Bella Union and celebrates this with the release of its single Détour. Montreal is in Quebec, so primarily a French language town. The title suggests a French song. It is primarily English though, for those who got worried reading this. La Sécurité plays music as if it is 1977-79, with the first albums of bands like Talking Heads and The B52s being released. In other words, the music is square and not round. The hooky rhythm propels the song forward. We used to call that kind of music new wave. Détour in that sense is a very outdated sounding song. From there the fun starts though. Ian Dury is another example. Just like his 'Sex And Drug And Rock And Roll', or 'Psycho Killer' and 'Private Idaho' of the other two examples are hooky, they are all great fun. A great introduction with more, undoubtedly, to come.

She's Got A Problem. HotWax

"She's got a problem and she's gonna get something done", that is what the title starts off in my head immediately. HotWax' song has very little to do with the Fountains of Wayne song. This is modern punk rock, with some latter day twist no punker would ever have come up with close to fifty years ago. HotWax does and puts itself in line with recent bands like Blood Red Shoes, Wet Leg, Sprints and many others. The Hastings trio is not holding back, except for the short psychedelic interlude. She's Got A Problem is exciting. There's no other word for it. There's a ton of energy poured into the song and it just shares and shares it with the world. From the drums intro to the dying seconds, this song rocks huge. I don't know what it is with U.K. bands but nearly always I prefer them way above American ones. HotWax is no exception, based on this single that is. Yes, again a debut band. Album 'Hot Shock' is underway.

Astoria EP. Robin Guthrie

Robin Guthrie was on this blog with two singles in 2021. Of course the artist's career goes back all the way to the 1980s. Today, he releases soft flowing instrumental tracks that are at times very much worthwhile to listen to. Take his latest EP Astoria. The compositions just swirl into my ears. Pleasant melodies just circle around, while I'm feeling more and more relaxed. Not that nothing happens in the songs. Take 'Starting Fires'. More and more instruments are woven into the primary melody, making it more complex to listen to and interesting to listen to. 'Starting Fires' at heart is a sort of ambient music, like all tracks on Astoria start out, after which the song develops into something else. A track like 'Jura' is pure Kairos material. Layer upon layer of synths play out, creating ever more complex melodies weaving in and out of each other. No, Astoria has nothing to do with rock and loud guitars, it's still beautiful to listen to.

Ohio All The Time. Momma

And another firster on the blog. No, Momma is not from Ohio, but Brooklyn in New York. Momma is a band that plays into the likes of Warpaint with a little more laying into the guitars than synths. Ohio All The Time rocks. I do not know anything about Ohio, except a recent news item on plastic pollution in the Ohio river but that is about it. Reading the short bio, I find that the band is not new but has scored a hit in 2003 called 'Bang Bang'. Whether they did anything in the meantime, I don't know and am too lazy to look it up. Based on this single, the band can count me in. Ohio All The Time brings back good memories and adds a new one. Over a layer of guitars Mommy's singer is able to sing softly with a innocent voice. The excitement is left to the lead guitarist who is allowed to kick up a storm here and there. Just like it should every once in a while.

Mockingbird. Larkin Poe

With Mockingbird Larkin Poe may have released my favourite song by the duo to date. The song rocks with a tough blues sound, but also is a kind of ballad and easily could be translated into a country song, modern and traditional. Rebecca en Megan Lovell step out of their comfort zone it seems. The crying slide sound is there but in a totally different background. The singer who comes to my mind foremost is Swiss-American Beth Wimmer. She would never record a song in this fashion, but Mockingbird could be one of her songs kicked into life in a totally different and near unrecognisable way. I love the way Mockingbird is built up. With the intro where slide plays the lead, to the first verse where the tough voice of Rebecca leads, before the song blows up with the whole band kicking in, the harmony vocals between the sisters join in. The chorus is simply absolutely great. Mockingbird is a song extraordinaire.

Medicine Ball. The Yearlings

The Yearlings up to now was just a name to me. Surprising, as a long hiatus apart, the band has been active since the late 90s. Following two albums in the 00s and one in 2018, the band is on route to its fourth release in 2025. Still with the original members, Olaf Koeneman, Niels Goudswaard, Herman Gaaff, Léon Geuyen and Bertram Mourits, with Martijn Vink as additional guitarist since early this year. The music presented with Music Ball brings back memories from long ago. Not just because it is alternative/indie rock with a strong focus on melodies but also because of the melancholy mood coming out of the song. Koeneman has that kind of voice. The drums are quite tough and in contrast with most of the other things going on. Until the two lead guitars, including the slide go for it. While everything during the parts that are sung is the restraint itself. Someone's really taken off the leash here. The contrast is what makes Medicine Ball come doubly alive. The song itself already is and then some. Yes, I'm curious for this new album.

Letting You Go. Jane Willow

It's two and a half years ago that Jane Willow was on the blog last, with her (second) living room show in Haarlem, where she gained a new fan in everyone present. Here's her new single, Letting You Go' off her upcoming EP 'Watch Me Fall'. The Dublin by way of Breda based singer-songwriter shows that she still honing her songwriting skills. Letting You Go is a delicate ballad of the kind that settles in my brain with ease. The impression the song makes on me, is that Jane Willow is playing in a different league. This is a mature song by a mature singer-songwriter. Together with Kevin Corcoran, piano, synths, bass and Anthony Gibney, electric guitar she presents a song that radiates beauty. All I hear is so frail in sound, yet unbeatable and unbreakable. The kind of song that touches me and carries me at the same time. Jane Willow undeniably has released good music in the past, but this is truly something else. Ireland, classical and great ballads can be heard here all in one, in the singing, in the piano, in the atmosphere

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

YIAN. Lucinda Chua

De Britse muzikante Lucinda Chua betovert op haar debuutalbum YIAN met zeer subtiele of zelfs bijna verstilde klanken en zang, maar sta open voor dit album en er ontvouwt zich een fascinerende luistertrip.

Lucinda Chua maakt het de luisteraar zeker niet makkelijk op haar debuutalbum YIAN. De Britse muzikante maakt op YIAN zich langzaam voortslepende muziek die uitermate subtiel is ingekleurd. De subtiele klanken zijn wel zeer sfeervol en van een betoverende schoonheid, die nog eens wordt versterkt door de al even mooie en subtiele zang van Lucinda Chua. Het is muziek waar je de tijd voor moet nemen en ook als je dit doet blijft YIAN een album dat niet in een hokje is te duwen. YIAN kiest soms voor ambient achtige soundscapes, maar Lucinda Chua kan ook uit de voeten met redelijk toegankelijke popsongs. Het levert een even mooi als intrigerend debuutalbum op.

YIAN van Lucinda Chua, dook op in de lijst met de beste debuutalbums van 2023 volgens de Amerikaanse muziekwebsite Paste. Begin 2023 heb ik YIAN meerdere keren beluisterd, maar ik vond het toen een lastig te doorgronden album. Dat vond ik bij de hernieuwde kennismaking met het album nog steeds, maar in het huidige seizoen komen de wat zweverige, zachte en sfeervolle klanken van Lucinda Chua wat mij betreft beter tot zijn recht en bovendien ben ik er achter gekomen dat dit album tijd verdient.

Lucinda Chua is een Britse muzikante met zowel Britse, Chinese als Maleisische wortels, die al op jonge leeftijd uitstekend uit de voeten kon op de cello. Nadat ze de Schotse band Mogwai live aan het werk had gezien met een celliste besloot ze dat haar toekomst niet in de klassieke muziek lag, maar in de popmuziek. Ze werkte de afgelopen jaren onder andere samen met FKA Twigs, maar zette zichzelf in de spotlights met twee EP’s (Antidotes en Antidotes 2). Die werden begin dit jaar gevolgd door YIAN, dat in kleine kring werd opgepikt, maar door Paste nu alsnog volop in de schijnwerpers wordt gezet.

Het debuutalbum van Lucinda Chua is een album dat niet makkelijk is te typeren. De Britse muzikante maakt uiterst subtiele en bijna verstilde muziek, die zich in een opvallend laag tempo voortsleept. Het is muziek waarin de cello van Lucinda Chua wordt gecombineerd met andere strijkers en met piano en keyboards. Door de bijdragen van strijkers doet de muziek van Lucinda Chua af en toe klassiek aan, maar de Britse muzikante verwerkt ook op subtiele wijze invloeden uit de pop en R&B in haar songs.

Door het lage tempo en de subtiele en zeer sfeervolle klanken heeft de muziek op YIAN zowel een beeldend als bezwerend karakter. Dit wordt nog eens versterkt door de zang van Lucinda Chua. Deze zang is al net zo subtiel als de instrumentatie op YIAN en ook net zo zacht. De Britse muzikant spreekt haar teksten af en toe uit, maar kan ook fluisterzacht zingen, waarbij opvalt dat ze met heel veel precisie zingt.

Door het lage tempo en de subtiele klanken en zang is YIAN een album waarvoor je in de stemming moet zijn. Als je er voor in de stemming bent is het debuutalbum van Lucinda Chua een bijzonder album waarop heel veel moois te ontdekken valt. Dat lukt het best wanneer je het album met volledige aandacht beluistert en er echt de tijd voor neemt. De ambient achtige klanken doen het prima als muzikaal behang op donkere winteravonden, maar YIAN wordt een echt bijzonder album wanneer je het album niet beluistert maar ondergaat. Dan pas hoor je hoe mooi de verschillende lagen in de muziek van de Britse muzikante samenvloeien en hoor je bovendien met hoeveel gevoel Lucinda Chua zingt.

Het is razend knap hoe invloeden uit de Chinese muziek en de klassieke muziek uiteindelijk neerdalen in verrassend toegankelijke songs met een randje pop of zelfs R&B, maar YIAN staat ook vol songs die een stuk dieper graven. Het album is overigens uitgebracht op het roemruchte 4AD label, dat in het verleden met de muziek van onder andere Cocteau Twins en This Mortal Coil al eerder van dit soort verstilde pracht uitbracht. YIAN is zeker niet het makkelijkste album uit het mooie lijstje van Paste, maar wel een van de meest bijzondere.

Erwin Zijleman

Je kunt YIAN hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://lucindachua.bandcamp.com/album/yian

Symbiosis. Leah Rye

De Nederlandse muzikante Leah Rye maakt diepe indruk met haar debuutalbum Symbiosis, dat in muzikaal, productioneel en vocaal opzicht excelleert en dat de fantasie eindeloos prikkelt met even aangename als avontuurlijke songs

De lat ligt in 2023 bijzonder hoog wanneer het gaat om vrouwelijke singer-songwriters van eigen bodem, maar met Leah Rye hebben we er een enorm talent bij. De Amsterdamse muzikante heeft met Symbiosis een bijzonder knap debuutalbum afgeleverd. Het is een album met een bijzonder rijk maar ook gevarieerd klinkend geluid, dat zowel elektronische als akoestische ingrediënten bevat. De songs van de Amsterdamse muzikante liggen bijzonder lekker in het gehoor, maar ondertussen gebeurt er van alles in de songs, die ook nog eens opvallen door de uitstekende zang van Leah Rye. Symbiosis is een fantastisch album met internationale allure.

2023 is tot dusver een uitstekend jaar voor de Nederlandse popmuziek, waarbij opvalt dat met name de vrouwelijke muzikanten het heel erg goed doen. Robin Kester, Someone, Amber Arcades, Pitou, Roufaida, Néomi, NinaLynn, Loupe, Ismena en natuurlijk Naaz waren allemaal goed voor albums die er wat bij betreft zowel nationaal als internationaal uit sprongen en een aantal van deze albums gaat zeker terugkomen in mijn jaarlijstje over 2023.

De koek is nog niet op, want recentelijk debuteerde Leah Rye met het uitstekende Symbiosis en ook dit is een album dat flink boven het maaiveld uitsteekt. Leah Rye is het alter ego van de Amsterdamse muzikante Lisa Rietveld, die met haar conservatorium diploma op zak begint aan een bestaan als popmuzikant. Ik kende de muziek van Leah Rye al via haar vorig jaar verschenen debuut EP, die me met hooggespannen verwachtingen deed uitkijken naar haar debuutalbum.

Met Symbiosis maakt Leah Rye deze verwachtingen meer dan waar. Symbiosis is een album dat in alle opzichten kwaliteit ademt en dat zich kan meten met de beste popalbums die dit jaar zijn verschenen. De Amsterdamse muzikante heeft lang gewerkt aan haar debuutalbum en met resultaat. Symbiosis is in muzikaal en productioneel opzicht een bijzonder mooi en razend interessant album en ook in vocaal opzicht legt Leah Rye de lat hoog op haar debuutalbum.

De songs van Leah Rye zijn, zeker op de eerste helft van het album, vooral elektronisch ingekleurd. Met de ingezette elektronica kan het echter alle kanten op, want Leah Rye zet zowel atmosferische klankentapijten als aanstekelijke beats in op Symbiosis. Zeker bij de eerste kennismaking met het album blijf je je verbazen over de variëteit op het album, want iedere track klinkt anders. De instrumentatie op Symbiosis varieert van sober en subtiel tot aanstekelijk en uitbundig, waarbij zowel elektronische als akoestische klanken worden ingezet.

De songs van Leah Rye zijn bijzonder toegankelijk, zeker wanneer ze flirten met de dansvloer, maar de Amsterdamse muzikante heeft haar songs ook volgestopt met bijzondere ingrediënten, waardoor het avontuur er van af spat. In muzikaal opzicht fascineert en intrigeert Symbiosis van de eerste tot en met de laatste track, maar ook in vocaal opzicht maakt Leah Rye flink wat indruk.

De Nederlandse muzikante beschikt over een aangenaam klinkende stem, maar ze zingt ook met veel expressie en emotie, wat je het best hoort in de meer ingetogen tracks aan het einde van het album, zoals het echt prachtige Sit Down, dat laat horen dat Leah Rye echt alle kanten op kan met haar stem. Ook de zeer persoonlijke teksten van de Amsterdamse muzikanten zijn overigens zeer de moeite waard.

Alles komt nog beter tot zijn recht wanneer je het album met de koptelefoon beluistert en van alle kanten wordt bestookt met bijzondere accenten en wonderschone passages. Het is allemaal bijzonder knap geproduceerd, wat nog extra glans krijgt wanneer je je bedenkt dat Leah Rye voor haar debuutalbum alles in eigen hand hield.

Leah Rye heeft zich voor haar debuutalbum laten beïnvloeden door uiteenlopende genres en heeft al deze invloeden op fraaie en knappe wijze aan elkaar gesmeed tot een bijzonder geluid, dat aan de ene kant direct vertrouwd klinkt, maar aan de andere kant behoorlijk eigenzinnig is. 2023 is zoals eerder gezegd een prachtig jaar voor de Nederlandse popmuziek en krijgt nog wat meer glans door het prachtige Symbiosis van Leah Rye, dat absoluut jaarlijstjeswaardig is.

Erwin Zijleman

Kairos 133, October 2021

May 2022 and Kairos of October 2021? Yes. Does it matter? No. Once again Wout delves into Wino's radio show on Concertzender and reports on his ideas, emotions, thoughts, associations all called up by the music presented in Kairos.

The familiar opening tune calls out to me. All mystery in 16 seconds and what lies in wait behind it? As usual I do not have a clue and submit myself to the music, while committing myself to the programme.

Soft music takes over. Slow notes on a keyboard ring out over a bed of atmospheric music. I'm not familiar with the music, although I recognise the name Faten Kanaan as an artist that came by in the albums presented to me. The label is Fire Recordings, so I'm not surprised to hear 'Mist & Madrigal' come by on Kairos. Many releases of the label have found their way to the show. Fire and Kairos are a good match and it is easy to hear why. The music does conjure up thoughts of mist and the mystery that can surround mist.

Something else, far less harmonious, takes over. The contrast is even a little disturbing. The quick notes totally in opposite of Faten Kanaan's music. Time is fleeting, and this music is as well. The music is like the hands of the clock. Seconds, minutes and hours all get their own piece in 'Time' by Poppy Ackroyd. Whether this is intentional, I don't know of course and had I thought of the association had I not read the title? Of course not. Fact is that 'Time' can be listened to in this fashion. Fascinating. Another association I have is with Mike Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells' in the way the fast parts are played, on, I think, a piano.

A dark sound moves in with over it piano notes, fairly sparse. The mood is consistent I notice. This music fits well together, despite the double tempo playing having been left behind. 'Sleeping Deer' is a piece by Mary Lattimore. A synth joins in a bubbly, propulsive manner. It creates the tempo that was abandoned anyway. What to make of it however? Is this butter or cheese? This can only be ascertained when you have seen or tasted either before. With 'Sleeping Deer' it's hard to say. The work comes close to being non-music. There is a melody involved but so sparse, so radical that I have a hard time getting through the 6.30 minutes it lasts. What I can't get my head around, is what Mary Lattimore wants to share with me. Atmosphere, a semi, non-pleasant one, sure. But beyond that?

A guitar takes over. A slow, stop-start rhythm. A female voice, hazy, hoarse starts singing. A tinkering, slow piano under a vague chorus. This is different but I like it alright. It's not a female voice at all. It's Sufjan Stevens & Angelo de Augustine who return to Kairos. The soft song is mysterious. The musical accompaniment is kept so small. The slow musical melody is angelic and beautiful in both a gruff as angelic way. Something impossible to obtain. 'Olympus' has it though.

What comes next? Simple Minds' 'Belfast Child'? No, it could have been though. This song has the exact same mood, though created by more traditional instruments, like a droning pump organ or something like it. A bagpipe for instance. It's an organ alright, I notice when the chord changes. It is 'Dew' by Bridgid Mae Power (Fire Recordings again). This is a traditional song alright. Folk at its most elementary. Beautiful, yet unapproachable. Warm and so cold. That is what 'Dew' is, very probably like dew on a cold morning is.

This month's poem is in English. Inspired by the sea. The music must be Ben Lucas Boysen's 'Nocturne 4'. It was woven into 'Olympus' somehow already. Now the slow and atmospheric keyboard, synths and atmospherics slowly works itself to a grand staging. A full drum kit joins giving the composition a giant oomph. Had a trumpet been provided, it could have been a new and more modern work by Ekseption, had its founding members not died that is. Boysen combines the classical with symphonic rock here and in a successful way to. Like it should. It doesn't matter from which side you approach symphonic rock it seems, it works both ways.

Next I hear church chanting come in. Fleeting, from so far away, as if coming to me from another universe. Until the male voices join in. This music of course ought to have been cancelled, coming from Russia and its orthodox church at that. Well, this Kairos comes from October and what did we know then? Nothing. 'We magnify Thee, Most Holy Virgin Theotokos (from the Service of the Baptism in Russia)' also indicates babies and what do they know? Nothing. I suggest we leave this chant be.

More slow notes fill my ears. Beneath it long held atmospheric notes can be heard. This could be a mysterious intro to a rock song and it can be something that continues on its own for half an hour, as sometimes compositions on Kairos do. What is this instrument?, I do wonder. It is a harp. This is Remy van Kesteren, an artist releasing songs faster than anyone can keep up with it seems. 'Waves' comes from his album 'Amber'. It is slow, mysterious and feels like being in the dark, reaching for the light which is, somehow within reach.

Somewhere the song changes or melts into something called 'Here We Are (Once Again) by Okkyung Lee. Another harp, that's easy to discern now. Underneath it other extremely slow playing instruments. A clarinet? The darker notes, coming by every so many measures, will be bass strings of the harp, I guess. To enjoy this music, I would need more rest in my body, which I notice I do not have enough of right now. I'm not submitting to this mood and music. My brain is on and not in a meditative mood.

Effortlessly the music moves into something else. It could be Akkyung Lee changing his song to incorporate another instrument, violins. It is not, however. What I'm listening to is 'Valley Of Tears' by Tom Snijders. Although, where the mood is concerned, this song is totally in line with the previous one. So is it a harp, that I can't relax myself on? As this music totally releases me from whatever occupied my brain just now, immediately. What am I writing?, I notice myself thinking. You enjoy listening to violins?! Am I getting old? No, I just totally enjoyed 'Wet Leg', one of the best albums recently released. The contrast to 'Valley Of Tears' is huge and yet this also works for me. The soft and relaxed but above all modest mood Tom Snijders presents is simply beautiful.

Another violin enters the last, muffled piano notes of Snijders. Also soft, yet by comparison harsh and biting. It's almost weird to notice how through comparison something soft containing long-held notes can be so loud, simply because of what came before. The composition is called 'Articulated Silences (part 1)'. It's also strange how this title articulates my first impression. Of course the effect quickly dissipates. The long-held notes create their own rhythm and atmosphere. I can imagine to mentally surf over the notes, catching wave after wave on an endless ocean without a beach in sight. Stars of the Lid has been in Kairos before and again claims its rightful place it seems.

To be replaced by world music. An exotic, to my ears, wood instrument whether bowed or blown introduces a female singer, singing deep from her throat, more sounds than words sometimes. The guitars, acoustic, give 'El Sikameya' a modern feel. This recording is less traditional than the song is. I always have a hard time to listen to this, but in this context, it feels totally right.

Some sort of modern church music takes over. With a reverb on the voice giving the impression to be recorded in a huge cathedral, catching the voice from a huge distance, using the acoustic qualities and ambiance of the big church fully. There are instruments involved in Gavin Bryars' 'Incipit Vita Nova' but they are totally subjected to the vocals. As I have written several times before, repetition is unavoidable over so many years, this music is not for me. Yet, I can hear the inner beauty in this music. Just like I can imagine myself sitting in that cathedral. Eyes closed, letting the music and singing grab me fully. At this moment someone starts using an electric saw or something like it outside. Speaking of dissonance within total tranquillity.

Kairos closes with another artist who has found his way fairly recently to Kairos for the first time. The mood in music hardly changes, despite faint percussion and digital sounds. It is the Moritz von Oswald Trio's 'Chapter 3'. What to truly make of it? Slowly the music fades out and Kairos comes to an end, before I can really make up my mind.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to this episode of Kairos here:

https://www.concertzender.nl/programma/kairos_629469/

 

The playlist:

00:00 – 00:16  Kairos Tune by Wino Penris

00:11 – 03:23  Faten Kanaan. Mist & Madrigal.
Album ‘A Mythology of Circles’.  Fire records.

02:37 – 08:47  Poppy Ackroyd. Time. Album ‘Resolve’, Poppy Ackroyd, Joe Quail, Mike Lesirge, Manu Delago. One Little Indian Records.

08:17 – 14:56  Mary Lattimore. Sleeping Deer.
Album ‘Collected Pieces II’. Self-released.

14:34 – 17:41  Sufjan Stevens & Angelo de Augustine. Olympus.
Album ‘A Beginner’s Mind’. Secretly Group.

17:31 – 18:08  Ben Lukas Boysen, Nocturne 3 (fragment).
Album ‘spells’. Erased Tapes Records.

17:58 – 21:25  Traditional. Dew. Brigid Mae Power.
EP ‘Burning Your Light. Fire Records.

21:09 – 27:57  Ben Lukas Boysen. Nocturne 4 . Album ‘Spells’. Erased Tapes Records.

21:27 – 22:32  Poem by Esther Rozenboom. Voice and recording by Esther Rozenboom. Private recording.

27:23 – 29:18  Anonymous. We magnify Thee, Most Holy Virgin Theotokos (from the Service of the Baptism in Russia). Znamenny Chant. Album ‘Hymns to the Mother of God at the Moleben’. Publisihing Department of the Moscow Patriarchate.

29:03 – 33:58  Remy van Kesteren. Waves. Album ‘Amber’. Snowstar Records.

33:09 – 39:19  Okkyung Lee. Here we are (once again).
Album ‘Heaven On Fire (various artists)’. Fire Records.

34:51 – 35:05  Fragment from poem by Esther Rozenboom, adapted by Wino Penris.

38:48 – 44:16  Ton Snijders. Valley of Tears. Album ‘Solo (2)‘. Munich Recrds.

43:58 – 49:23  Stars of the Lid. Articulate Silences (part 1).
Album ’And their refinement of decline’. Kranky.

49:18 – 52:05  Traditional. Istikhbar Sahli. El Sikameya.
Album ‘Atifa’. Editions Le Mur du Son.

51:44 – 57:52  Gavin Bryars. Incipit Vita Nova. (David James, countertenor; Annemarie Dreyer, violin; Ulrike Lachner, viola; Rebecca Firth, cello).
Album ‘Vita Nova’. ECM NEW SERIES.

57:34 – 59:57  Moritz von Oswald trio. Chapter 3 (fade-out).
Album ‘Dissent‘. Modern Recordings.

Heavy Sun. Daniel Lanois

Daniel Lanois is natuurlijk vooral bekend als producer, maar ook als muzikant doet hij zo nu en dan bijzondere dingen, zoals op dit zeer fraaie en vooral door gospel beïnvloede, nieuwe album.

Heavy Sun van Daniel Lanois wordt hier en daar beschreven als een mix van gospel, orgelmuziek en ambient. Dat leek me op voorhand op zijn minst een bijzondere combinatie, maar het pakt verrassend goed uit. De Canadese muzikant en producer maakte Heavy Sun met drie andere muzikanten en het heeft een bijzonder klinkend album opgeleverd, waarin het orgel en gospelvocalen inderdaad een belangrijke rol spelen, maar Daniel Lanois hier en daar ook zijn zo karakteristieke geluid kwijt kan. In muzikaal en vocaal opzicht is het smullen, maar uiteraard is ook de productie van het niveau dat we inmiddels van Daniel Lanois gewend zijn. Bijzonder album.

Daniel Lanois vergaarde alleen met zijn werk voor Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Peter Gabriel en U2 al flink wat roem als producer, maar hij heeft ook zeker zijn sporen verdiend als muzikant. Met zijn debuut Acadie uit 1989, opvolger For The Beauty Of Wynona uit 1993 en Shine uit 2003 maakte de Canadese muzikant minstens drie memorabele albums en dat is op zich een hele acceptabele score voor een muzikant. 

Deze week verscheen een nieuw album van Daniel Lanois, Heavy Sun. Het is de opvolger van de drie jaar geleden verschenen samenwerking met Venetian Snares (Venetian Snares x Daniel Lanois), waar ik persoonlijk helaas geen chocola van kon maken. Heavy Sun klinkt weer totaal anders dan de door experimentele elektronica gedomineerde voorganger. 

Op Heavy Sun brengt Daniel Lanois zijn liefde voor gospel, orgels en ambient samen. Dat klonk voor mij op voorhand een beetje als patat met chocoladesaus en mandarijn partjes, oftewel als een combinatie van dingen die zich lastig laten verenigen. 

Ik was daarom in eerste instantie vooral benieuwd naar de productie van het album, die Daniel Lanois uiteraard zelf voor zijn rekening nam. Die productie is, zoals we inmiddels ook wel van de Canadese muzikant en producer kunnen verwachten, een waar kunststukje. Het in Los Angeles en Toronto opgenomen album klinkt fantastisch, bevat hier en daar flarden van het zo karakteristieke Daniel Lanois geluid en laat alle ingrediënten van de muziek op Heavy Sun glashelder uit de speakers komen. 

Daniel Lanois werkt op Heavy Sun samen met gitarist Rocco DeLuca en bassist Jim Wilson. Hiernaast werd een beroep gedaan op Johnny Shepherd, in het dagelijks leven zanger en organist in de Zion Baptist Church in Shreveport, Louisiana. Hier en daar zijn ook nog drums te horen, die me even deden denken aan de fabuleuze drummer Brian Blade, maar de drums werden door Daniel Lanois zelf geprogrammeerd. 

Heavy Sun laat niet alleen vier geweldige muzikanten horen (Daniel Lanois speelt zelf gitaar op het album), maar ook vier uitstekende zangers, met een glansrol voor Johnny Shepherd. Deze Johnny Shepherd had absoluut zijn naam verdiend op de cover, want zijn geweldige orgelspel en zijn prachtige gospelvocalen zijn wat mij betreft de twee belangrijkste ingrediënten van de muziek op Heavy Sun. 

Ik ben op zich geen groot gospelliefhebbers, maar Heavy Sun biedt de warmte en hoop die we momenteel goed kunnen gebruiken. Een pandemie album is het echter zeker niet, want het album werd voor de komst van het coronavirus in de Verenigde Staten en Canada opgenomen. 

Voor een album dat ik op voorhand beschreef als patat met chocoladesaus en mandarijn partjes, is Heavy Sun een behoorlijk toegankelijk album. De ambient invloeden op het album hoor ik persoonlijk niet zo goed, of het moeten de hier en daar wat atmosferische klanken zijn. De combinatie van gospel en orgel is natuurlijk een prima combinatie en ook het prachtige gitaarwerk op het album en de donkere bassen sluiten naadloos aan op de rest van de instrumentatie. 

Heavy Sun is al met al een album is dat ik geen moment van Daniel Lanois had verwacht. Het is op hetzelfde moment ook een album dat zijn talent als muzikant en als producer onderstreept. Fascinerend album.

Erwin Zijleman

 

Hirschbrunnen. delving

Upon hearing the track that was released as a single, 'The Reflection Pool', I became really curious to hear Hirschbrunnen. I was not disappointed, in any imaginable way. This album is a showcase of exquisite tastes and fantastic imagination.

Like the rest of the world, Nick DiSalvo, known foremost for his work with the band Elder, had to go into lockdown. Just like all people, to put it binary, he could complain about how bad things were or start doing what he always had dreamed of doing, in his case record a long-wished for solo album. In the form of Hirschbrunnen (Stag Fountain) it has seen the light of day, under the name delving.

On the album a whole range of influences come together that over the years have made an impression on DiSalvo. So do not be surprised if you get the impression to be walking around in a practice studio where from every cabin a different sort of music can be heard. In one room there's progrock, in another synth tracks are created, another cabin hosts a more jazz rock oriented band, not to forget the heavy rock band, etc. On Hirschbrunnen it is all brought together in seven, mostly, long tracks, within which DiSalvo brings together all these influences, moods and a little magic to make things shine.

Hirschbrunnen is a collection of snippets of music, ideas, compositions, riffs, etc., that DiSalvo had collected throughout the years and now have been brought together as a collection of instrumental tracks. The only amazing thing I find, is how consistent the album sounds, despite its diffuse origins. DiSalvo has worked hard to make it a whole. This already struck me listening to 'The Reflection Pool' in May, a single of 9.30 minutes no less, but is kept up on Hirschbrunnen as a whole.

Promo photo

In each song you will find an unexpected twist, changing the mood, texture and structure of the song. Changing your mood as well, simply because the music affects you. It is hard not to be affected when listening as intensely as Hirschbrunnen invites you to do. There are no lyrics or vocal melodies to follow. Although I love to sing, listening to this album I realise how distracting vocals can be to the rest of the song. Here I can follow every single aspect of delving's music. Listen how the tension within a song is built up, hidden in the giant layers of noise that e.g. is mixed in the middle and background of 'The Reflection Pool'. In the studio it must have been eardrum splitting.

With the exception of an additional guitar played by Mike Risberg, on three tracks, Nick DiSalvo plays all instruments. It all sounds impressive, making the album even more impressive because of this achievement as well. I'm sure that not a single sound is not in its place. Each a well thought out component of the whole that Hirschbrunnen is.

Summing up, and mind this is coming from someone who does not as a hobby listen to instrumental albums, Hirschbrunnen is an album full of intriguing details and beauty. At times as forceful as it is dreamy. A combination that is hard to present successfully in music. delving does just that.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and buy Hirschbrunnen here:

https://delving-music.bandcamp.com/album/hirschbrunnen

or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g

Kairos #120, August 2020

It's that time of the month again and our Wo. is running behind on his monthly dose of Kairos once again. While .No is actively promoting the November Kairos, Wo. is finally getting round to the August edition. Is it as if he's trying to escape his daily spoon of cod liver oil, like in this youth? No, rest assured, dear reader, we do not force our writers into anything. So, let us sit down, relax, and see what musical adventures .No presented to us in the August 2020 edition of Kairos. If you click on the link below to settle and listen, you can follow, slowly but surely, what the presented music did to (the mind of) our Wo..

The familiar intro morphs into a piano, added to by a harp. I was just about to write, not a piano again, doing my own take on the Rosella savoury rice TV add in Australia in 1977,to be distracted by the harp and later on a violin. This is a sad melody, containing a load of emotion. The violin as it were is speaking to me. I have no clue what I'm listening to, nor where it is from or how old it is. Looking it up, the composition is Astor Piazzolla's 'L'Histoire Du Tango: Café 1930', played by Larissa Groeneveld & Gwyneth Wentink. And here I sit having always thought a tango was played with an accordion. Also I associate a tango with a different rhythm, but then what do I know about tango's? What I do notice is that this is music able to move me and touch me. Like I said, that violin speaks to people and thus me. There may not be a singer, a lyric, I can almost grasp what is being said to me.

Okay? Trickling water? A cold wind? Birdsong? What is this? Spring? Glaciers melting? The sound of the last snow scooter riding on/gliding down the slope reaches my ear as well as a giant wasp or mosquito. Irritating and loud, almost drowning out all else. Irritating it is. The composition is called 'Brook' from someone/something called Med Gen.. Help!, I notice I have to pay attention for 17 minutes plus. The sound of a bow being pulled over strings is repeated over and over. Dark, slowed down?, male voices sing wordless sounds over the bowed sounds. Listening intently with eyes closed I hear the looped instruments and the echo of the voice adding to the primary sound. After a while the singing fades out and the basic track of the brook returns. Slowly a second part builds itself up around a female voice, I think and perhaps slowed down as well. Musically a whole swarm of mosquitoes is unleashed into my ears. Closing my eyes I feel myself slowly losing consciousness. As a meditation 'Brook' certainly functions well. Unless I'd fall asleep, so I open my eyes when noticing to slip away. Come to think of it, at a campsite next to a brook, I wouldn't fall asleep in a hundred years because of the sound of trickling water beside my tent and no other sound present any more. The mind closes in on the sound of water, focusing, keeping my brain focused and awake. A scene from my life and certainly familiar to you, whether a brook or the sound of a mosquito or something else in that silence of night.

It is only now that I notice that the brook is a sound through which .No has mixed other compositions. First it was 'Cradle' by Lyra Pamuk. From circa 18 minutes onwards it is a song in a language that I do not understand. Not a single word. 'Be'ya Sa'di' by Anna Homler and Alessio Capovilla. There's a low drone, like a highway in the background, over which traditional instruments are played and Anna Homler sings in the language I'm not familiar with. When the brook returns, the song is slowly faded out. The birds have gone to bed. I hear the sound of the wind coming through the music, but notice that it comes from outside my room, real wind.

Over the brook a piano plays. The return of Eleni Era to Kairos and the blog. Her high voice meanders over the slowly played piano chords and notes, while electronic sounds hover in the background as a Poltergeist in that movie of old hovering behind a tv screen or wall. Eleni Era sings 'Beautiful Moon' in her mother tongue, Greek. Once again I'm struck by the beauty of her music. I have written it a few times before but now I'm going to act. Tonight 'Rise Love' will sound in the living room and not remain solely on my external hard drive.

The slow moving song is swept away by another droning sound. Louder sounds move in and out like a wave on the beach. Med Gen. is allowed to return with another minute long contribution, 'Harbingers Of The Storm'. Somewhere behind the electronic sounds Thor can be heard, doing his thing in the distance, rolling like a crashing wave through the air. The lighting in the distance I can imagine myself easily. Med Gen. does capture the oncoming storm musically in sound. In that sense it is well done. The tension of not knowing how bad the storm will be comes through alright. So well done, but why would I want to listen to this in my spare time? That is a question I cannot answer in a positive way. The rain sets in. The storm has reached me. Slowly, I'm musically soaked to the bone, have no place to hide under and I find myself wishing it was over, fast.

And it is, a keyboard,a piano and a plopping, slow bass guitar enter my ears. I have the idea I should know what it is I'm listening to but can't get my finger around it. Let's take a peak. But of course, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. .No has taken a shine to 'Ghosteen', Cave's latest album. So have I, but also have learned that 'Ghosteen' is not an album to play every day. Very likely because the album is Cave's elegy for his ghost teen, his son that will never get beyond 15, having died from falling of a cliff near Brighton. In 'Hollywood' all is atmosphere with Nick Cave singing over the atmospheric sounds that he's waiting for "his time to come", "for peace to come". In a way this is 2019 church music. The "aah aah aah" is completely sacral in a totally modern way. It is the movement of deepest feelings, whether with a religious intent or not. In the second part of the song a rhythm is started like an old steam engine train. Slowly going forward, gathering speed while chugging away. Not that 'Hollywood' accelerates, it is the suggestion of gathering speed that is sufficient. Nick Cave is on a run down California's Pacific coast, fleeing from demons and memories. There's nothing punk or rock and roll left in 'Hollywood', nor in the rest of 'Ghosteen' at that. With this album Nick Cave has sublimated his musical travails of the 2010s. It is the bass guitar that in part 3 presents a last eruption of things that once were. It is in this part that the exorcism takes place towards "piece of mind". His voice higher, totally different from his usual baritone. Of course I cannot know what Nick Cave meant with this lyric in his deepest, inner self, can only give you my interpretation, which I have. To my ears 'Hollywood' and 'Ghosteen' is an impressive tour de force by one of the greatest artists of this moment.

Next up is an even higher voice. The kind one can hear sing in a church. The accompaniment is bare, almost non existent. A few single notes here and there on an acoustic guitar, perhaps harp, perhaps plucked violin. It is this final option that, if forced, I'd choose. A violin comes in for a solo. Notes that can deeply move, like the opening song of this Kairos does as well. It is the style of singing that my ears highly object to. I just can't help it. Even when I hear that the quality of singing is truly good, my ears can barely stand it. But again, 'Nana: Duérmete, Niño, Duerme' is a beautiful composition as a whole.

What's next? The pan flute from "Who Pays The Ferry Man'? No, this is far more serious. A few notes, at times cascading over an atmospheric repeat of the cascading notes, turning into another round of cascading sounds through the ever newly created loops of loops. Funny, but it does deserve some sort of closure, which is does not really.

Slowly the loops do fade away to be replaced by a serious piece of music. An orchestra playing extremely serious music that on the other hand could be part of a movie. It is not hard to be touched by the downcast mood. I suppose .No made this Kairos in the weeks of July when the beautiful spring had all of a sudden left The Netherlands to be replaced by wind and rain and less warmth. Otherwise I cannot explain the overall downcast music of this Kairos. Listening to it in early November, still thinking every once in a while: "where did my summer go"?, I totally get the mood though in these fast shortening days.

Kairos ends with another sound of the Highland Spokesman who replaced the sad sounding  'Motet From After the Rain'.

Wo. 

You can listen to this Kairos here on Concertzender:

https://www.concertzender.nl/programma/kairos_567307/

or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g

 

Playlist Kairos #120:

00:03 – 06:40  Astor Piazzolla. L’Histoire du Tango: Café 1930. Larissa Groeneveld & Gwyneth Wentink.
Album: ‘Chanson Exotique’ (STEMRA 200692).

06:02 – 23:44  Med Gen. Brook. Album ‘Terrapy’. Pantheon.

07:13 – 16:16  Lyra Pamuk. Cradle. Album ‘Fountain’. Bedroom Community.

18:40 – 22:18 Anna Homler & Alessio Capovilla. Be’ya Sa’di.
Album ‘Vasi Comunicanti’. Gang of Ducks GODREC0024.

22:48 – 26:49  Eleni Era. Beautiful Moon. Album ‘Rise Love’. Louvana Records.

26:21 – 37:11  Med Gen. Harbingers of the storm (fragment).
Album ‘Terrapy’. Pantheon.

34:18 – 48:31  Nick cave Hollywood. Album ‘Ghosteen’. Ghosteen Ltd.

48:27 – 52:57  Manuel de Falla. Nana: Duérmete, niño, duerme.
Album ‘Montserrat Figueras – Ninna Nanna’. Alia Vox AV9826.

52:35 – 56:50  Highland Spokesman. Sounds 3 three (fragment).
Album ‘Sounds’. Pantheon.

55:39 – 59:36  Barry Guy. Motet from After the Rain (fragment). City of London Sinfonia, Richard Hickox. Album ‘Ancora!’. NMC D032.

58:33 – 59:57  Highland Spokesman. Sounds 1 one (fragment adapted by Wino Penris). Album ‘Sounds’. Pantheon.