| Artist: Matthew Florianz & Eric T'Sas Album: Molenstraat Released: 12 December 2001 |  |
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A single trip from evening to morning is chronicled on the album
Molenstraat, by Eric T'Sas and Matthew Florianz. The seven pieces presented are extracts from a long improvisation, performed over the course of one
night and morning in an apartment in The Hague. The tracks, named after the
time of day at which they were recorded, present a rich variety of moods
even as the artists work with a small palette of keyboard textures. Ripples
of melody and a thoughtful piano solo open up the first and best piece,
"Molenstraat 16:30". Live street noise is mixed in from time to time -
shouting children, thunderclaps, and the grumble of wheels turning on the
stones below. The listener drifts into deep contemplation during the
blissful two tracks that begin the disk, imagining a city full of people
hurrying to their homes, turning their backs on the dusk and thinking of
sleep. "Molenstraat 19:28" moves into darkness, a somber piano phrase
couched in dark, threatening drones. Through careful melodic twists and
turns, the nighttime segment of the album imparts the emotions of a long and
sleepless night - introspection and languor with pieces of fear and
loneliness. Melodic themes from the start of the disc return on the
uplifting conclusion "Molenstraat 07:33" - the distant ringing of bells tell
us to get up and begin a new day. Molenstraat gives the listener a sparse
and beautiful assortment of music, played with restraint, crystallizing a
place and time in our minds, even though it may be far away.
- Scott Kelly 26 July 2007 | |
| Listener Essays |