It must have been 3 years ago that I got in contact with Wouter van Veldhoven for the first time. A friendly message if I could listen to his release Muziek Oorspronkelijk Bedoeld Voor Twee Piano's (music originally mend for two piano's) and give my thoughts as a fellow musician on this work. And sceptic as always I downloaded the music and took a listen. Where in the most cases I get bored and actually don't feel like listening on for more than one track, in this case it was completely the opposite. I got dragged into the music and didn't want to stop listening. Not so long after, this release got its home at Camomille Music as an mp3 release.
Since, I have been following his musical development from close by and saw him grow and grow.
Now after some cd-r releases, collaborations and compilation tracks finally the first real cd sees the daylight.
The Dutch label Eat This Media from Utrecht, also home town of Wouter van Veldhoven has the honour to bring us Four Simple Songs For Five Dead Bumblebees. The cd is packed in three different versions all with a nice handmade textile sleeve, which seems to become some sort of trademark for Wouter van Veldhoven.
This artwork, however, is not only a gimmick, it also tells us much about the music we hear on Four Simple Songs...; it's warm and cosy or as Van Veldhoven would say himself "dusty and pleasant".
As the title suggests we find four tracks on this release, which are clocking in at an average over just over 10 minutes. All songs are build-up around loops recorded on old reel-to-reel tape recorders. Several instruments are used as input and treated by analogue effects. Add loads of static and you have the ingredients of this complete album. This might sound very boring or even denigrating, but it is not like that at all. In composing the songs there has been a keen eye for detail in development. At first it sounds pretty much abstract but the more you listen to it the more the melodies appear.
The album starts out with a song coming out of a music box played in a house where someone is sitting in a rocking chair hiding for the rain. After a few minutes the rain stops and the music reminds me of a Sunday morning in august watching the dragonflies and damselflies, or maybe it are those bumblebees, circling around a flower. A not unfamiliar sound that could match with the beatless ambient pieces by Boards Of Canada.
The Second Simple Song song is much more abstract. It starts with rhythmical glitches and halfway through snippets of processed guitar are taking over the sound. Together with the tape hiss and static this leaves a really warm sound. It somehow makes me think of the work by Oren Ambarchi after it has been dragged through some dirt.
My favourite song from the album is the Third Simple Song. It sounds as if all instruments have been picked up for this; just too build up a hypnotising song that really drags you in. This is a very melodic piece of music that combines the abstract with the organic in a way I love to hear. It brings a smile on the face and makes you want to whistle along, while the tape degrades the sound to a soft drone. And in the end the melodies come back again, together with soft vocals. It might not be the goal of this song but it brings me a smile on the face.
The album is finished with the Fourth Simple Song which starts as the sound of a dot-matrix printer, but Wouter wouldn’t be Wouter if it was something completely different. And again nothing stays what it is; while the loop continues playing again organic melodies fade in. The end result could suite very well on a compilation for sleeping music. It sounds as a lullaby, a farewell to the Five Dead Bumblebees.
Nowhere on the album we hear extreme bursts of music. Van Veldhoven keeps everything in control and rather takes the subtle path than the explosive. Which I personally think, is one of the strengths in this music. Four Simple Songs For Five Dead Bumblebees is a more than welcome album and let’s hope we will hear much more by Wouter van Veldhoven in the future. He has the potential to become a big artist and not only in his home country The Netherlands. |
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