Machinefabriek - Somerset
This record is startlingly amazing. Starling because, well, I wasn't expecting it to be this good. I mean I obviously had some hopes for it because I spent money on it but wow. This thing is gorgeous.
There's lots of pops and crackles, lots of piano, and lots of various soothing noises. The whole thing sounds like you're underwater (Marijn, duh) but not in the murky, muffled sort of way. More in the pretty, shimmering kind.
"Wolkenkrabber" is very soft, with a drawn out, washed out sound. But there's bit and pieces of more grating sounds. Electronics disguised as porpoise squeaks and cuttlefish squiggling along the ocean floor. And then everything gets amplified, as if you've just discovered some glowing golden gorge and as you get closer to it, you feel at one with the sea, like you could die happy right at that moment. Yeah, that's a good song right there.
"J'espere Ca" starts out all piano, layered all over itself, bringing to mind the sound of Lubomyr Melnyk. Static builds, the surf swirling, and you know a storm is coming. Every now and then I think I hear a seagull, but it can't be. I'm either imagining things or hearing very subtle guitar notes. This is one of those beautiful wall of sound songs that you want to crank up as loud as you can, close your eyes, and know you couldn't be happier. Sadly, it can't last forever, as the song drops everything 3/4 of the way through. The storm has passed, but you can still hear the thunder in the distance.
There's so much more on this album. "Somerset" is fantastic and there's an 18 minute noisy as fuck closer that I don't even have words for. Marijn is a truly majestic and phenomenal piece of work. As an introduction to Machinefabriek, it works wonders and ensures that I will follow all of his future releases.
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2 comments:
I really love Machinefabriek, but he puts out so much damn music it's hard to keep up with it all. He did a really great collaboration with the dude from Jasper TX last year called Vintermusik that you should check out if you can track it down (it's probably ridiculously out of print), it's a lot more Stars of the Lid style ambient than the noisy+piano stuff he does solo.
Thanks for the tip. I have Jasper TX's recent I'll Be Long Gone Before My Light Reaches You and I like that a lot, too. I will definitely have to check that out. I love collaborations.
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