Niels Van Hoorn & Mark Spybey Present "De Klaverland Klompen Voetbal Club" Soleilmoon Recordings sol 118 cd 2002 (53:47)
Shrink (:36)
Pitchin' (9:58)
Jelly Lord (3:31)
Octoroon (5:46)
Scrapper Boy (7:59)
South Side Style (3:28)
Dippermouth (5:49)
Empress of the Blues (9:09)
Stockyard Strut (5:21)
The Train of Freedom (2:10)
The Legendary Pink Dots horn player Niels Van Hoorn and Mark Spybey of Dead Voices On Air have been collaborating for a few years now. Neils has contributed to DVOA live sets, the "Frankie Pett" album and the Spybey / Mick Harris disc "Bad Roads, Young Drivers" disc. But this project, created while Spybey was a resident of the Van Hoorn household in The Netherlands, puts the focus almost entirely upon Niels - his horn playing as well as the various sounds to be found and made amongst the pastoral riverside setting he calls home. All of this is, of course, thoroughly digitally processed by Spybey, so much so that half of the 54 minutes passes before a sound typical of a horn is heard. But the atypical is just as welcome here as the possibilities of horn playing are explored. After a few listens, I've become as fascinated as Spybey is with the sounds he has gathered and shaped. In the extensive liner notes he explains the process involved for each track, how exactly he recorded Niels or what exactly we're hearing, such as mice scurrying about the barn, a power generator, Niels welding, river boats, distorted raindrops, an old jazz record, etc. Most of the tracks simply, slowly, quietly flow - presumably like the nearby river Waal - the music being something pleasantly in-between melodic and abstract. "South Side Style", "Empress of the Blues" and "Stockyard Strut" are little more than beautifully melancholy flute, tenor and baritone sax phrases, respectively. A couple of tracks are a bit more mischievous. "Jelly Lord" is a backwards, overdriven horn anthem for the Land of Clover, darkly underpinned by nearing thunderstorms. And "Scrapper Boy" erupts into a buzzing machine drone akin to Mika Vainio's solo work. Spybey and Van Hoorn have created not only a souvenir of a time and place of their friendship, but a really lovely soundtrack for others to share in. "Klaverland" might just end up on my best of 2002 list ...
Mark Spybey
The Legendary Pink Dots
Where did I get this CD? - Soleilmoon Recordings