Ensemble Du Verre - Rooms '2016

Tracks list

With his seventh album since he started his „Ensemble du Verre“ in
2003, producer and multi instrumentalist Sönke Düwer is presenting his
latest production „Rooms“. An album with a new musical direction,
yet quite typical E.D.V. , coherent, floating and featuring beautiful
methaphorical lyrics, enhancing E.D.V.s stilistic and sonic spectrum. Next to
three instrumental pieces, six vocal tracks can be heard on „Rooms“.
During a meeting in his Hamburg based „Batterieraum“ studio Düwer
tells us how his album came to life. Is there a basic idea for this record and
what about the title „Rooms“? For several years - from time to time
- I wrote songs on my old piano, but I never used them. Working on my previous
albums I was interested in other ways to express myself, so a lot of these piano
compositions kind of landed in the drawer. But in the beginning of 2015 the time
had come to generally create a new overall sound for E.D.V., so I went through
the material and started working on these ideas, some instrumentals and some
real songs. This is my seventh album, and from the beginning on I had a certain
sound in my ear, so while I developed the tracks I constantly wondered, if what
I was working on could fit into a very reduced piano based sound idea. Every new
song simply got a number as a working title, so the first song was called
„Rooms1“ etc. It all started with the title „Rooms“.
With every piece I tried to imagine, what I would find in a particular room
creating which kind of atmosphere, could be the light, the size or my
perspective looking into it. Some rooms are no rooms in a usual sence, i.e. a
clearing in the woods or a fiew into a cardboard, in all these spots I found
inspirations for my music. Which role plays the piano in your music? As a
contrast to many of my old songs, I composed all these nine pieces so that they
can be performed live simply using piano and voice. The piano sound and the kind
of harmonic structure was an essential factor and starting point for every song.
In 2005, when I produced my „Sing Me Something“ album, I already
worked with my piano and different ways to prepare it. Since I simply continued
this working process in the last 11 years since „Sing Me Something“,
the character of this instrument is the key to all of the pieces on
„Rooms“. And by the way, this piano is my oldest instrument, I got
it from an old aunt of mine when I was 18.... For the recordings you didnt only
play the piano parts, but also the drums again. The drums is and will always be
my instrument, I am a passionate drummer. For my current tracks I wanted to
produce very reduced beats, quite minimalistic, so I prepared my Gretsch Set
from the 60ies to get a very distinct sound. And then I spent an awful lot of
money on microphones and amps, unfortunately ruining our family finances, go ask
my wife....but I wanted everything to be perfect! Since you started E.D.V. your
music had always quite an electronic character. I was nominated for the Jazz
Award Bremen for my way to blend electronics into Jazz. For „Rooms“
I created sounds which add to the music without distracting from it. When the
recordings were done all that mattered was to create a certain electronic layer
adding some decent minimalistic depth to the written music. How did you find the
different vocalists you worked with? I ended up working with four not only very
different voices but also very different personalities. First off all there was
the song, meaning lyrics, music and arrangement. Then I started searching and
contacting various people, and each and every time it was very exciting for me
to listen to my songs being interpreted by an other singer, male or female.
Before we worked on the tunes we always had a profound exchange about the songs
and then we started recording and creating something together. Now I am truely
happy and really proud to to be able to present those wonderful interpretations
by Nora Becker, Jan-Philipp Kelber, Luisa Woestmeyer and Ute Lorenzen on my
album, it truely is a very special feeling for my. Next to bassist Daniel
Stritzke, who you collaborated with you on your latest EP „Melody“,
we can hear Umut Abaci on the turntables, how did that come about? My son
produces Hip Hop tracks and has been working with Umut for quite some time, so
it only felt right to ask if he was willing to experiment with me. During our
two extremely creative sessions we found a way to put scratches into a
completely new musical context. Scratching original material has been
fascinating for me for years, I had heard it from DAngelo and was amazed by the
concept. On „Rooms“ I finally could do it myself. Due to the fact
that there are all these digital options, there is no need for a dubplate, you
can play with files and a digital DJ system to your hearts content.

Jan-Philipp Kelber, vocals
Daniel Stritzke, bass
Umut Abaci, scratches
Soenke Duewer, piano, electronics, drums

Tracklist:
01. Ensemble Du Verre - Who Will Tell Us (Room 13) (6:06)
02. Ensemble Du Verre - Rooms (Room 18) (5:22)
03. Ensemble Du Verre - Lovebirds (Room 8) (3:52)
04. Ensemble Du Verre - Eternal Day (Room 9) (5:11)
05. Ensemble Du Verre - Polychrome (Room 1) (5:41)
06. Ensemble Du Verre - The Beauty of the Imperfect, Pt. 1 (Room 24) (4:30)
07. Ensemble Du Verre - Soundlessness (Room 4) (6:52)
08. Ensemble Du Verre - In Your Green Eyes (Room 23) (6:53)
09. Ensemble Du Verre - The Beauty of the Imperfect, Pt. 2 (Room 26) (4:18)

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