Finding a portal to the hollow interior of the earth, never seen before, through changing textures and forms, from deep extended foggy drones to popping electronic beats that hide and barely emerge in places.
Meeting us in the darkness
Mist Schimmen (missed figures / mist shades) is a soundtrack to a place, a memory and nostalgia. What I hear is a combination of traditional brass and strings with electronics of all kinds, and field recordings of stumbling steps and hidden motion, through a crowded path. This is a journey in slow motion through extended and sustained sounds, notes and tone clusters, sometimes there is a beat, other times only the drones hold the sky up, sustaining the world. What keeps my attention is the progression of new sounds as the music spins and opens wider.
The artist shares that “mist schimmen is inspired by my time living in The Hague.” Here, I hear an atmosphere of deep sophistication, things progress slowly and there are exceptions which provide texturally diverse gardens to explore, finding a portal to the hollow interior of the earth, never seen before, through changing textures and forms, from deep extended foggy drones to popping electronic beats that hide and barely emerge in places.
“mist schimmen is also inspired by the music of that time, taking a more melodic and rhythmic direction from the dark “outer-space” ambiences of “mass object”. Its closest musical release is “zon der tijd ver gaat” which I consider a study and sketches for this album.”
From the album notes ::
living somewhere
long enough
and moving away
a part remains
from time to time
and thinking of there
nostalgia calls
that was left behind
The first track, “haven licht” (8:15), (harbor light) speaks musically of a place where we are captured between hundreds of square concrete blocks that line and protect the iconic harbor entrance from the sea. The textures dominate the forms, there are emerging melodies but the real action is in the percussive electronics. But then the whole thing shifts into an orchestral blend, then a cathedral organ I think, the electronics are present but are receding into the odd noises and grumbling harbor monsters.
The tempo ascends, there are swirling snowflakes and crunching colors that shuffle and gleam, “nieuw stad” (4:56), (new city), continuously the tempo takes form, I hear footsteps, rushing water, drum patterns.
The tempo continues below the surface ::
Always taking our ears to new places, each track has a very rich and full content, lots of things are happening as the tempo continues below the surface, along the journey. The next track, “warm ver” (6:23), (warm far) there is a guitar being strummed, the strings clicking against the pick create a rhythm, not so much a melody, the pace stays warm. Things keep melting and changing while the flow stays well formed. Florianz uses a huge palette of colors and sound pictures, for example, between tracks 3 and 4 the changes happen in such a way that there are many false endings and new beginnings, feeling the end of the track is less important than the series of new starts. The rich variety of sound bits that weave and flow make for a dream of many locations. I asked about how Florianz measured the parts that fit together so well, how did the selection of these elements come about? Where do they come from? How would he describe his harvest? “Iconic sounds, such as the reverberating pneumatic hammers, that push giant concrete columns into the ground, are captured in “laat al zo lang” (4:24), (let for so long), the fourth track on the album.”
We have arrived in the vacant old city finding shelter in a cave, I can hear distant industry within the beats and the melodic structures, speaking of growing life. Now there is a beat for sure, made of gigantic machines. “richting zuid” (4:33), (direction south) at the end I hear a piano through a lens darkly, the beat picks up and we are traveling on, just the music remains of the journey itself.
Things change and a new world begins, “waar gebeurd” (4:06), (where happened). I am anxiously approaching the scene of the old tragedy, the pace is slow and reverent, in the darkness. A piano is here, with other stringed instruments, an old traditional form enveloped in a mist of amber. I almost wish I could count the number of wonderful transitions and strange blends of water sounds and new illuminated chamber refractions and settling behemoths.
From here a candle will never show the walls of this cavern because it is so big, track 7: “toen der tijd” (5:53), (then of time), after all the changes and strange sustained shimmering breaths, the sound lingers and proves to endure. Eventually the beat melts into the framework below and the journey resumes for a little eternity longer, then the beat fades while we coast.
A slow deep piano brings us in, meeting us in the darkness, the simplicity contrasts with the thickness and variety of density of the activity so far, here it is time to relax, “laat los” (3:50), (let go). I am having my slow piano dreams, a slow pulse takes form and becomes a tempo rising, finding a place under a waning moon.
After all the territory we have covered, here is a proper concluding track, with a consistent mood and drifting slow pace, “van ons” (6:17), (from us). I feel the last frigid moments glimpsing the land past the horizon, the bridge leading to the center of the great unknown. How can I put any of this into words? The artist speaks most eloquently, “Concrete squares (rhythm) break the chaos of the sea splashing between them (noise). In that space, something new, a tonal reverberance is created. In all its simplicity, it is an analogy for how I create and approach music and sound design.”
I am very grateful to have the opportunity to experience this amazing construction of magic and real life, an imaginative rendering of walking through a night fog with new eyes. An opportunity to see into the night of another life in this place of reverence and zephyrs.
“Mist Schimmen (missed figures / mist shades) is a soundtrack to a place, a memory and nostalgia for a time in which I have created albums such as Molenstraat, Electronic Forest, Grijsgebied, Three, Niemandsland and Koude Handen. (This new music is) like Maalbeek, which muses on memories of a forest region in the south of The Netherlands.”
Mist Schimmen is available on Bandcamp.
