Gareth Davies/Jan Kleefstra/Romke Kleefstra – Tongerswel
If you want to submerge into a deep sea of sounds that perfectly fits to the upcoming autumn, a collaboration between Gareth Davies and the Kleefstra brothers Jan and Romke seems to be a perfect start.
Tongerswell is a dark and brooding album. The first track starts fades in so slowly you’d think the CD is not running at first until the low rumbling proves you wrong. Thick drones are floating underneath introspective guitar pickings, shimmering feedbacks and woodwind sounds. Everything seems to be slowed downed that it feels like it all came to a halt. Just like a sound track to a still life – details emerge, pulsate and dissolve again. Strangely enough this effect is not achieved throught the composition itself but through the focus of the listener. Having this record running on loop, I couldn’t make out when it started nor ended. The sound is just there, drifting past, filling the room with its textures that move like glaciers. Tiny melodic elements that emanate here and there flickering like beacons, but they are still sparse enough to not lull you in.
Above all this Jan Kleefstra’s spoken frisian poems float in a steady slow stream. Maybe it’s because I don’t understand frisian, but they added a dark pastoral layer and emphasis to the tracks. Like a lonely wanderer, the desolate words travel across this heavy mist of sound.
Tongerswell is an amazing and absolutely beautiful, yet dark journey that deserves to be traveled a lot.
