Review:
'NOOTEN, PIETER'
'Here Is Why'
- Label: 'Rocket Girl Records'
- Genre: 'Ambient'
- Release Date: '27th September 2010'
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Our Rating:
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Soon after receiving this album for review, I happened to see a copy of it on display in my local record store. On the cover was a CLAN OF XYMOX sticker which gave the initial impression that here was a new record by that band rather than the work of a man who left the Dutch goth-rockers fully twenty years ago.
In the same way that Eno would be miffed if he saw ROXY MUSIC emblazoned on one of his solo albums, I am sure that Nooten is equally nonplussed about the fact that a line still hasn't been drawn between who he was then and who he is now.
All the more so as there's nothing particularly Clannish about this album and Nooten is now given to saying things like: "I never listen to any pop music .... I am more influenced by the depth and beauty of the simplest Bach fugue".
To prove that he's a more serious guy these days, the pre-stickered version of the CD sleeve features an abstract design with tastefully muted autumnal shades on the front and a simple list of the twelve track titles on the back.
It is a solo album in the sense that all the music was composed and mixed by Nooten (on his trusty Mac Book Pro) but, at the same time it is the vocal tracks that give the album its real identity. The four instrumentals are calm, gentle ambient pieces but hardly memorable.
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Nooten sings on four tracks, although he is alone on just one (Ease Away). He has an unassertive, even slightly sombre, voice so it was a wise move on his part to employ a small troupe of women to help him out. Their voices add a more poetic dimension to the introspective mood of the record.
The most striking is Kristen Oppenheim's Left Lonely in which her words are looped to magical effect, making the lines into a kind of dialogue with herself.
Susan Bauszat wrote the words on two other tracks (Terror Of Hearts and Darkened Haven) and sings in a breathless whisper reminiscent of Tina Grace on Nitin Sawhney's 'Letting Go'. The other two female voices (and lyricists) are Renee Stahl and Yvette Winkler who are pleasing to the ear but a little too new age for my liking.
As you might expect from Nooten's blunt dismissal of pop, he is aiming for something with greater depth and permanence with this record. However, while it has a delicate charm and moments of beauty, it is altogether too aloof and emotionally detached to create a lasting impression.
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author: Martin Raybould
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READERS COMMENTS
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What a missed opportunity this review, obviously written by a male. Nootens music has always been delicate, intimate, fragile and -most important- timeless, not in fashion with any style or trend. Martin has missed and not understood Nootens attempt on Here Is Why to slow down the listeners mind, with almost meditative & deep layers of carefully crafted, minimalist yet ingenious harmonies, sounds, effects, melodies and voices WITHOUT sounding new age-y. All compositions are very carefully layed down and masterly crafted. Indeed, it takes someon...shortened comments
------------- Author: nutville
14 February 2011
to finish my sentence thank you please:
Indeed, it takes someone with just a tiny bit of understanding of contemporary minimalist electronica AND classical music, to fully appreciate this monument of subtlety, not overdone, sometimes hollow emotionality, which is so much en vogue in modern pop.
------------- Author: nutville
14 February 2011
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