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Machinefabriek: stillness soundtracks

  • GLACIAL MOVEMENTS
  • Release Year 2014
  • 7 Tracks, 40 Minutes
  • CD in Digipack

More details

GM022

14,90 €

Trained as a graphic designer, Rotterdam's Rutger Zuydervelt started releasing as Machinefabriek in 2004. In 2006 he released his first official full length album, 'Marijn', which was voted by the Wire as one of that years bests electronica albums. Since then, his discography expended rapidly, releasing on international labels such as 12K, Staalpaat, Important, Experimedia, Type, Home Normal, Dekorder and Glacial Movements. His improvised live performances has seen stages across the globe, including Japan, Canada, Russia en Israel.Besides making albums and playing gigs, Zuydervelt regularly works with film makers and choreographers, as well as producing on installations.
" When Esther Kokmeijer approached me with the idea of making the scores for a series of short films she was working on, I didn't hesitate. Having seen a lot of her photography, I immediately knew how inspiring the footage she shot in Antarctica and Greenland would be. And this expectation proved to be correct. In quite a short period (we had set a deadline, to show the result at an open studio date) we swapped sketches and edits of the videos and audio, until the combinations felt perfect.The 'Stillness' films aren't documentaries in the sense that they tell a clear story. We're seeing the Arctic through Esther's eyes, slowly passing giant icebergs and simply being amazed be the impressive and seemingly endless landscape. While in other films it's mostly the other way around, in 'Stillness' the narrative, if there is any, comes from the music. When making these soundtracks, the idea was to guide the viewer through the images with a sense of abstract story telling. Instead of the original first thought of making dark, cold soundscapes, the bleak mountains of ice are now colored by lush arrangements and even quite romantic themes. Esther and I released the videos on a usb-stick, in a limited edition of 100, that was sold out in no time. Now the scores are presented on 'Stillness Soundtracks', including two exclusive tracks. It speaks for itself that there's no better label to release this then the Glacial Movements label, so I couldn't be happier. " (Rutger Zuydervelt, April 2014 )

LISTEN TO A PREVIEW

REVIEW
Stillness Soundtracks' is music for films shot in Greenland and Antarctica by director Esther Kokmeijer, and it finds Machinefabriek – aka Rotterdam's Rutger Zuydervelt – working with both acoustic and digital means, as though he were using analogue and digital cameras. The music has the required glacial chill that keenly evokes the remote locations, and by using suspended chords that move ever so slowly Zuydervelt creates an unusual kind of tension. The live instrumentation used in the introduction (the curiously titled ('Chinstrap')) has some gorgeous colours, while the first of five 'Stillness' tracks, depicting The FRAM in Greenland, is quite stern, suggesting darker elements – which 'The Protector (Antarctica)' picks up with more than a hint of menace. This is another of those Glacial Movements releases that seems suspended in time and space, and if you give it the right amount of room and listen closely it really does take you to a different state of mind through its sheer musical beauty.5 out of 5 ( DMC WORLD)