eau, with Mariska Baars
Nowadays I regularly put albums on Bandcamp as a free (if you wish*) download. Obviously I’ve released so much music that my discography might feel quite impenetrable, and I’m hoping to create an easy entry this way.
* it's actually 'name-your-price' - this way it stays in peoples Bandcamp collections etc... but paying zero cash is 100% okay!
This time: eau, with Mariska Baars, recorded and (self-)released in 2019.
I don’t think Mariska Baars (aka soccer Committee) needs much introduction, but it’s worth mentioning that she has a new album out next week, which you can pre-order here (with a first track streaming). eye is my favorite work of hers, which says a lot, cause everything she touches is magic.
Mariska and I go way back. I discovered her music when reading a review of her first album, in 2005. I was intruiged and contacted her, proposing to swap some music. Obviously I didn’t envision this being a start of a good friendship, in music and in life.
We recorded quite some music together, as a duo, a trio (with Robert Deters or Wouter van Veldhoven), and as part of the quartet Piiptsjilling (with Jan and Romke Kleefstra). Sometimes the results were song-based, but eau – probably our favorite collab – takes a more abstract aproach.
The basic idea of eau is that it’s a stream of sound, a bit like an installation, like building a sonic landscape. steve roden (RIP) is defenitly a reference here. The music was constructed with a whole lot of layers of looped sounds, with the balance between each layer subtly shifting throughout the piece. Most of the recorded material is by Mariska: vocals, guitar, field recordings, kalimba, and more. These were then chopped up and processed into a huge Logic file, followed by quite some time for mixing the whole thing.
The finishing touch was done by Stephan Mathieu, who mastered the track, and made sure it sounds as crispy and deep as it does. We’re super happy with it!
Enjoy!
Photo: Mariska and I performing a live rendition of eau during the festival De Oversteek in Nijmegen (NL), September 2019. (Photo by Geert Oldenmenger)