First of a duo CD release of Rotterdam-based composer/pianist Reinier Van Houdt, on the adventurous Elsewhere label run by Yuko Zama. A collection of the six pieces that Van Houdt created for the wonderful quarantine festival AMPLIFY 2020 by Jon Abbey. Each disc comes in a 4-panel gatefold wallet with cover photos by Van Houdt. The second CD of the duo release, “the adventure of sleep”,  can be found here.

“I’ve made these pieces from what I played, listened to, recorded, played back, read, watched, heard, or imagined, each during one specific day in the quarantine of 2020.

Where ‘drift nowhere past’ is a collection of journal entries and focuses on whatever is entering into the mind on a specific day each month, the new piece ‘the adventure of sleep’ concentrates on situations that recur every day: realizing the passing of time, hearing the sounds of neighbours, the moment of falling asleep, the moment of waking up. Like ‘drift nowhere past’, ‘the adventure of sleep’ spans a six-month period and again the material simply came from what was already there, accessible, happening, remembered, imagined or otherwise.

For both these works, a quote by Franz Kafka served as a silent motto, its meaning even compounded by the Covid lockdowns during which the music was composed: “You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.”

Tracks:

1. drift nowhere past (22 march 2020) (14:00)
2. friction sleep maze (22 april 2020) (8:51)
3. horizon without traveler (22 may 2020) (10:43)
4. skies waves trails (22 june 2020) (21:08)
5. bardo for Cor (22 july 2020) (7:47)
6. mystery of erasure (22 august 2020) (11:29)

Composed, performed, recorded, mixed by reinier van houdt in Rotterdam, 2020
Mastered by Taku Unami