Koen Holtkamp - Field Rituals

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release

4...according to our Phil on Thu 09 Oct, 2008.

Koen Holtkamp on Type then. Brand new signing to the label. This is more like the sort of gear you'd hear on Type rather than the recent Alps LP which was a load of hoary old nonsense. This is some spacial sounding electro acoustic gear with loads of strings, acoustic guitar and field recordings. As well as traditional stringed instruments Koen also plays ice water, paper, metal bowl and seeds. I wish more people would make music with seeds. Field Rituals is nice tinkly experimental gear with melody so it's not too tricky on the ear. Reasonably pleasant we thought with some nice ethereal touches.

'Field Rituals' is the first solo album to come from Koen Holtkamp, an artist probably better known as one half of ambient duo Mountains. Based in
Brooklyn, Koen created the album slowly and as a love letter of sorts, taking in delicate field recordings and using them like faded photos representing
his distinct memories of the people and places he chanced upon. Some may have heard the incredible 'Make Haste' which appeared on limited edition
vinyl earlier in the year, but this was only a taste of what Koen has to offer on 'Field Rituals'.
Taking cues from the classic ambience of Brian Eno and fusing it with the instrumental subtlety of Sweden’s Tape, Koen has come up with an aural
book on his subject matter. Each track feels entwined in the next and feels like a part of something much bigger. Sure we’ve heard field recordings,
synthesizers and guitars before but rarely have these instruments been injected with such a lightness of touch and with such a delicate open ear. Each
listen reveals more, like peeling back layers of onion skin – take the album’s epic centrepiece 'Sky Flowers' for example, which blends slow-moving
synthesizers with good-natured environmental recordings and shimmering strings. The result is explosive somehow, with the grandeur more usually
exploited by Arvo Part being framed with a distant electronic ambience.
The slow-burning pace is probably the single most important facet and reveals an artist at ease with his musical choices, something unusual in a genre
brimming with young hopefuls. A good comparison might be Stars of the Lid, but Koen’s music is more organic and more humble somewhat than the
ex-Texan duo. In the end we are just proud that Koen has allowed us a look into this most personal of works.
Tracklisting:
1. Half Light 2. Sky Flowers 3.Bee Change 4. Bear Bell 5. Walker 6. You Mean theWorld to Me 7. Night Swimmer 8. Haus und Spirale im Regen

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