Lost In The Forest (EP). Mevrouw Tamara

During her support show for the Elenne May cd presentation in the Amstelkerk in Amsterdam this fall, Mevrouw Tamara announced that she had started to write songs in English and played a few for us. This month her new EP was released and holds four songs in English. I do not know the reason for this switch, but let's take a look at the songs, as that is what music is about.

The title track is an all vocal song with layer upon layer of Mevrouw Tamara's voice. In an intricate composition she weaves the different melodies and back and foreground voices in and over each other, leading to a track that, I have to admit that I had to work hard at appreciating, gives its inner beauty away only slowly. The effect is a not unlike a choir composition for a church. The voice is less secure and certainly not classically trained. The result is certainly something similar in nature. The fact that this is all Mevrouw Tamara's work, makes 'Lost In The Forest', the more impressive. It is not hard to imagine the nuns of old singing this composition somewhere in the Middle Ages in a dark church lit by candlelight only. When I read that everything was recorded in one take, it makes the result the more impressive. Tamara van Esch has a very keen ear for melodies and harmonies. Something I noticed live when she built her parts on the spot, recording little bits and pieces and replaying them while starting on the next often while singing to.

When we switch to a guitar in 'Leave' it comes as a relief, but only for a briefest of time. It is not as if 'Leave' is a pleasant song. It is all about leaving, to saying goodbye to something that was. It was good at some point but not any longer. The point of severing and the beginning of something new. This EP is about breaking up with her boyfriend. It is even worked out in the fading figure in the artwork of the EP. A lot of people may wish to receive a goodbye like Lost In The Forest.

The mood for Lost In The Forest is set. Introspective music, with an artist looking in to herself, her mindset, her own well-being is examined in-depth. The result is music that is spell-binding, addictive and of a sort that is close to the skin, if not under it. If you let Lost In The Forest work on you, any one will find that it is extremely easy to establish a relationship with this music. It is of an intimate nature that allows for bonding. The introspection is all but excluding.

Lost In The Forest is 100% Tamara van Esch. Except for 'Leave', the EP was recorded at her home. Everything you hear is sung and played by her. 'Leave' was recorded by Pim van der Werken who also mixed the EP. Again I am struck by the way how intricately layered the music on the EP is. How the dynamics in 'Leave' work. From the soft beginning to the force of the middle part and the switch to the piano as centre instrument near the end.

The piano is in full force in the third song, 'Picture Us Together'. Which comes through in the art work, as in something of the past. Something that is no more. "He can not picture us together" is the real message of the song. Which is a radical departure from the title of the song. From the positive or better a longing, wishing, to the negative. Again the intricate quality of the music strikes me. In such a soft toned song, so much is happening, including the mood that hangs heavily over all that is going on. Although most is piano and voice, there are other elements that show the craftsmanship of Mevrouw Tamara in arranging her songs.

It ends with 'In My Cocoon', one of the songs she played in the Amstelkerk, with I think 'Leave', of this EP. 'In My Cocoon' is a fitting end. The right place where introspection is concerned. Again the piano plays light sounding notes accompanied by a guitar and something I'll call "mood". The darker sounds in the background that meander under certain spots in the song. 'In MyCocoon' is a song like a meandering brook through a forest, with soft trickling water sounds. Songbirds warbling on their branches. Wind rustling the treetops. And so this imagery brings me back to the artwork yet again. Full circle.

Lost In The Forest holds only four songs, but is very much worthwhile to invest time in. Let the songs wash over you and you'll be conquered by the soft tones of Mevrouw Tamara. Never to want to let go again.

Wo.

You can listen to and buy the EP here:

https://mevrouwtamara.bandcamp.com/

Kindly Now. Keaton Henson

Ongeveer een jaar geleden wees een lezer me op het werk van de eigenzinnige Britse singer-songwriter en kunstenaar Keaton Henson.
 
Met name het in 2013 uitgebrachte Birthdays intrigeerde me mateloos, maar ik besloot te wachten op een nieuwe plaat van de muzikant uit Londen.
 
Die nieuwe plaat ligt in de winkel en maakt wat mij betreft de hooggespannen verwachtingen meer dan waar.
 
Kindly Now opent met een track waarin elektronica prachtig wordt gecombineerd met klassiek aandoende strijkers en blazers en met de vervormde stem van Keaton Henson, maar vanaf track nummer twee kiest de Brit toch vooral voor uiterst intieme en ingetogen singer-songwriter muziek.
 
In de tweede track maken alle instrumenten in eerste instantie plaats gemaakt voor een piano en ligt de nadruk op de stem van Keaton Henson. Het is zo’n stem die wat doet met een song. Keaton Henson vertolkt zijn songs met heel veel emotie en slaagt er onmiddellijk in om de luisteraar vast te grijpen.
 
Van mij mag Keaton Henson een plaat met uitsluitend door de piano ondersteunde songs maken, maar ook de bijzondere instrumentatie op Kindly Now kan ik zeker waarderen. Deze instrumentatie is soms uiterst subtiel, bijvoorbeeld wanneer de pianoklanken voorzichtig worden ondersteund, maar Keaton Henson is ook niet bang om wat steviger uit te pakken, waarbij vooral de blazers en strijkers aan mogen zwellen.
 
Het meest word ik toch geraakt door de bijzondere stem van de Brit. Ik ben licht allergisch voor zangers met vreemde piepstemmen (en op een of andere manier zijn er daar momenteel veel van), maar Keaton Henson blijft gelukkig aan de goede kant van de streep met een stem die af en toe aan die van Jeff Buckley doet denken.
 
Ook in muzikaal opzicht is Jeff Buckley overigens relevant vergelijkingsmateriaal, al is Keaton Henson nog meer geneigd om buiten de lijntjes te kleuren en raakt hij ook aan de muziek van aan de ene kant Gavin Friday (de ruwe emotie) en aan de andere kant Radiohead (de neiging tot experimenteren). Een heel klein beetje David Gray mag ook niet onvermeld blijven.
 
Keaton Henson roept met zijn muziek uiteenlopende reacties op. De een vindt het in muzikaal opzicht over the top, in vocaal opzicht wat te dramatisch en keert de Brit uiteindelijk de rug toe. De ander wordt geraakt door de intieme en emotievolle songs, de fraaie instrumentatie en omarmt Keaton Henson met liefde. Ik heb vooralsnog geen enkele twijfel en kies voor de tweede groep.

Erwin Zijleman

Je kunt hier luisteren naar 'Alright':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwZ7duewhng

Helter Shelter live in de Hollandsche Tuyn in Leiderdorp

Er zijn van die toevalligheden in het leven die je soms overkomen. Het jaarlijkse kerstdiner met vriendinnen van mijn inmiddels voormalige sportschool stond dit jaar gepland in de Hollandsche Tuyn en omdat mijn zoon daar vlakbij woont, sprak ik er eerder met hem af om een biertje te gaan drinken. Wat schetst mijn verbazing, dat het café volledig afgeladen is en er een band staat opgesteld in de hoek van het café. Helter Shelter, the best of The Beatles and The Stones staat er op een doek met een soort van Union Jack er op. Dat hebben we geweten. Suizende oren, prima middag.

I'm The Walrus

Zoonlief is opgevoed met een flink dieet van de twee bands, al heeft hij een zeer duidelijke voorkeur voor de eerste band. Bij mij is dat iets meer gemengd. De Beatles hebben muzikaal veruit de beste nummers, de Stones winnen het op opwinding. De mix van hun nummers werkt wonderwel goed. Allemaal meezingers natuurlijk, maar ook verrassingen, met name in de Beatles nummers, die niet direct voor de hand liggen.

De zanger van Helter Shelter heeft een rauwe strot en zingt totaal een-dimensionaal. Dat werkt echter wonderwel omdat vrijwel alle nummers in een ruige(re) rocksetting worden gespeeld. Het gas terug wordt niet makkelijk gevonden door Helter Shelter. De opwinding neemt navenant toe. Dat dan weer wel. De andere drie heren verzorgen harmoniën en oehs en ahs. Als geheel een prima muzikale invulling aan het adagium niet lullen maar poetsen.

Coole schoenen, teveel bewogen

Omdat de band een trio is qua instrumenten, vullen de gitaar en bas elkaar perfect aan. Hele melodieën komen uit de bas, maar dat past bij Beatles songs prima, want dat speelt McCartney ook. De gitarist speelt hard, strak en zijn eigen interpretatie van veel nummers. Daarnaast maakt hij duidelijke keuzes wat een mummer het beste dient. De andere partijen (van de plaat) komen gewoon niet aan bod. Daarachter wordt alles dichtgetimmerd op de drums, door de uiterst energieke , maar heel af en toe overenthousiaste drummer.

Al zaten er hier en daar kleine foutjes in de nummers, het mocht de pret niet drukken. Helter Shelter speelde een prima set, de eerste hadden we gemist. Energiek, levendig en totaal rock and roll. Prima middagje dus, ook al hebben mijn zoon en ik iets minder gekletst dan verwacht.

(Foto's van) Wo.

Meer informatie over Helter Shelter vind je hier:

https://nl-nl.facebook.com/heltershelter071/?_fb_noscript=1

Mexico, a big thank you

Time flies. Around 6 December I spent a week in Mexico. Well, including all the travelling, I was around 1 week from home. The time was spent in Guadalajara at the Internet Governance Forum. Although most was work, there was music everywhere and most of the time. The Mexican government put on Mariachi bands during the opening and closing ceremonies and not simple ones either. Next to that there was music and traditional dancing over the lunches, at the socials and at restaurants where we had dinner. Mariachi is a trademark and we were indulged the whole way with the traditional music.

Photo: Wo.

I discovered that there are two forms. One is the first we encountered. Any instrument could be added to the line up that could easily run up to 15 members or more. The main ingredient that set this Mariachi form aside were three trumpets that make a lot of noise compared to the different string instrument. The second distinction is that most bandmembers sing together before the copper is let lose again.

The other form is more traditional, at least that is my guess. A smaller band, no copper, just strings and one leadsinger, joined in the harmonies by the others. This is much more heartfelt music. It goes straight to the marrow. (The copper fuelled mariachi is melancholic by nature as well, but in a very different, exuberant way.) This was the mariachi played over the lunches. The longer the conference lasted, the more time there was to enjoy the music as well.

Photo: Wo.

Last year in Brazil, the music was everywhere on the beaches, but nowhere else. Here it was everywhere. Just like Tequila, that, I'm sorry to say, horrid distilled drink that comes from a town just a 45 minutes ride from Guadalajara, called, well you've guessed that I hope.

And thus the 11th IGF became a musical show of major proportions next to a serious conference. The people of Guadalajara are proud of their Mariachi and shared their musical world with us. So a big thank you is in place. No, I will not play this music at home, but enjoyed it thoroughly while there. Feeling it, being touched by it. And I totally know where TMGS gets its horns from on that great album 'Rivers and Coastlines: The Ride'.

Now how can Geneva, where the IGF will be next year, top this? Impossible, I'm afraid. Not for all the cheese fondues in the world.

Wo.

Kairos, October 2016 by .No on Concertzender

We notice that Wo,'s really trying to catch up here. The third Kairos in about a month. What will he encounter this time? Horror at .No's choices or will he be expanding his musical experiences in a more gentler way? There's no telling but to follow him. The proof is in the October 2016 Kairos.

Ha, the first song I'm familiar with. Better, I reviewed 'Skeleton Tree', Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds' album after the summer in a very favourable way. Cave has strayed far from his starting point in music. Not that I could listen to him at the time. And nor would you, as The Birthday Party certainly does not fit this musical meditation. 'Magneto' does, all mood, all atmosphere with Cave's deep voice prominently up front in the mix. A song to carry me away. So impressive.

The strings of The Bad Seeds slowly morph and then disappear behind the more prominent strings of Lárus Sigurdsson. Hís 'We Are Not Swans' from the album 'We Are Told When To Shine' is a moody piece. Yet totally fitting 'Magneto'. The two songs augment each other totally. In a somewhat warped way they could easily be placed on the same album. Two minutes, less and its all over. Yes, something shone alright, but not the swans, perhaps us, but not as swans. Perhaps the whole album gives away as what we did shine? Or when as what? I can't tell here. It also puzzles me how much music comes from Iceland. I get the impression the whole population plays music (and is a football fan). There's nothing new or unique here, but such a cool beauty. Like I imagine the island itself to be.

Again a change, to piano, notes played far and wide apart in an extremely slow fashion. Woodkid is a new name to me. Together with Nils Frahm he composed a filmscore on a movie about Ellis Island, with Robert de Niro as narrator. Not here though. This is instrumental, typical Frahm playing, my Kairos experience tells me. My patience, I see, will be tested for nearly 10 minutes. So I'm closing my eyes here and see what happens. ...... I see ships sailing on the see, carrying loads of imigrants from Italy, Eastern Europe. Soundless, in black and white on calm sea. All the storms have been left behind. The drama rises as some are not allowed to enter the U.S. for unknown reasons, while others feel the excitement of being let in, to the land of their dreams. The music befits a filmscore but is easily listenable stand alone. It's like Steve Marriott sings: "Close your eyes and drift away".

Time for something darker, a Nocturne, if that has to do with the night that is. Ben Lukas Boysen's 'Selene' is another piano based composition. .No really is into piano's recently, isn't he? The dark-toned notes prevail with a hint at something else going on in the background, that I can't really hear (anymore? or is the simply nothing there?).

Morten Lauridsen's 'Sa Nuit d'Éte is a totally different matter, a choir composition, but again something dark. The bass segment of the human voice is explored, making it a slow composition. Singing low excludes high speeds. It has to resonate and that it does in 'Sa Nuit d'Éte'. I'm in the mood for this, so good.

An organ takes over. Jo Louppen is back in action. A recent discovery of .No, I reckon. Or is it one of his uncles or nephews again from the deep south that are newly released in a series of Limburg composers? All kidding aside. Louppen plays a composition by Margriet Ehlen, 'Paulo minus ab Angelis' on a church organ. Whether this ever made it to church at mass I'm not certain. It's so dark it could be the devil's work if it did not sound somewhat sacred also. Looking at it that way, it could be on the score of 'De Harpij', should anyone ever film the brilliant book by A.N. Ryst. Again things go a little wild, a modest emulation of 'Toccata En Fuga', a signature of Louppen's playing it seems. In this version it's like someone is testing what all the little plugf around the organ do. Well we know now. Thank you, Mr. Louppen. Weird.

Larus Sigurdsson returns with a composition called 'Fina Mündsuchtig'. (No, definitely no shining here.) With him violins return. Also played on the deep strings, with moodiness behind it. Again I'm captured by the mystery Sigurdsson plays out in a slow, but lavish way.

O.k., brace yourself folks, we are in for a second part of Ellis. I've put the music on hold to get myself some tea as it's a full 15 minutes and I want to listen to it without typing. If I sit through it that is. No 'Ships' please, .No. First, I'd like to tell you that Woodkid is a French singer, composer, filmer of videoclips and graphic designer called Yoanne Lemoine. A latter day humo universalis? He has the biggest names in modern music to his name, Del Ray, Williams, Perry, but comes up with music like this. There's money and there's art for monsieur Lemoine? Let me get my tea and then let's get to it.

A minimal sort of music enfolds, an organ rising and falling over a continued drone alternated with the voice of Robert de Niro who recites memories of immigrants or made up memoires. Believe it or not what I imagined over the instrumental that was before comes out here. Someone is sent back. After which a story enfolds. There is a bell. The Pärt bell as I call it. De Niro returns. I'm afraid, this is just what I do not like on albums: spoken word. For that I go the the movies, watch television or a documentary, but not as part of music. While listening to music there's just no place for spoken word in my universe. In that sense Eno's ship is not so far away. Here comparisons stop. This doesn't erk me. The music itself is simply too elementary to impress, so I could not have enjoyed this for 25 minutes without De Niro either. There's just too little happening in 'Winter Morning II'. I'm sure the story as a whole impresses though. Ellis Island was so important to many people. Very probably De Niro's own ancestors passed through there. The medium is just wrong for me.

A piano moves in on a slightly lighter note this time around. 'The Pool Of Memories' enfolds in my ears. Lubomir Melnyk's piano takes me through space and time and in a way complements the stories just told. You could have fooled me if you told me this was a part of 'Winter Morning II'. I am in a sentimental mood as this music really moves me. Everything seems to be at its right place in this song. Busy as it is, notes fly in from all sides. How many hands does this guy have? More than one person has if I listen correctly; and there's one duff note. Funny that it sticks out although it's almost hidden in there.

Ten minutes fly by. I have to pay attention as the next fragment is something like 30 seconds. A fragment of Emmanuelle Errante's 'Later Earlier' comes by, but what can she expect with such a title? Too confusing to be allowed more that 40 seconds?

The final contribution is by Martin Stephenson, 'Rain'. This guitar based composition, the first on this Kairos, is melancholy, but so much lighter than most of what came by before. This changes again when Stephenson starts singing. He sounds like Lee Hazelwood's younger brother. That is not to say that this is not beautiful. The guitar playing is Leonard Cohen's style, like the song is alike 'Bird On A Wire' or 'The Partisan'. (I expect a Cohen tribute soon .No.) I had never heard of Stephenson, but I certainly appreciate the acquaintance.

Wo.

You can listen to this Kairos here:

http://www.concertzender.nl/programma/kairos_354873/?date=2016-10-06

Playlist Kairos 6 October 11 PM / 23.00 CET. www.concertzender.nl

00:07 Nick Cave. Magneto. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Album: Skeleton Tree. Bad Seed Ltd. BS009CD.

05:12 Lârus Sigurdsson. We are not swans. Album: We are told that we shine. Volkoren 65.

07:03 Woodkid. Winter Morning I. Nils Frahm. Album: Ellis. Erased Tapes Records ERATP086CD.

16:05 Ben Lukas Boysen. Selene. Album: Spells. Erased Tapes Records ERATP085CD.

18:44 Morten Lauridsen. Sa nuit d'été, uit Nocturnes. Tekst: Rainer Maria Rilke. Polyphony o.l.v. Jaqueline Shave ; Morten Lauridsen, piano. Album: Nocturnes. Hypérion CDA67580.

21:58 Margriet Ehlen. Paulo minus ab Angelis. Jo Louppen, orgel. Album Positief. Stichting Limburgse Componisten.

28:47 Larus Sigurdsson. Fina Mondsûchtig. Album: We are told that we shine. Volkoren 65.

30:40 Woodkid. Winter Morning II. Nils Frahm keyboards; Robert de Niro, voice. Album: Ellis. Erased Tapes Records ERATP086CD.

45:00 Lubomyr melnyk. The pool of memories. Album: Rivers and Streams. Erased Tapes Records ERATP077CD.

55:18 Emanuelle Errante. Later earlier (fragment). Album: Time Elapsing Handheld. Karaoke Kalk CD 75.

55:53 Martin Stephenson. Rain. Album: ‘Boat to Bolivia. Kitchenware Records 828 012-1

59:21 Emanuelle Errante. Later earlier (fragment). Album: Time Elapsing Handheld. Karaoke Kalk CD 75.