Living here as I do I find it an incredibly evocative take on both the landscape and the “binnengevoel” that life in NL engenders; it’s that bit removed, a little bit shrink-wrapped, and hermetically sealed.
Living here as I do I find it an incredibly evocative take on both the landscape and the “binnengevoel” that life in NL engenders; it’s that bit removed, a little bit shrink-wrapped, and hermetically sealed.
Reserved, spacious and often leaving little to chance, Breek create a sound that is very redolent of the atmosphere of the Netherlands: especially the miles of concrete housing projects that mushroom up between the polders, canals and lakes and old farms in this flat, sober land. You can even view this EP as a sort of summation of whatever psycho-geography the Dutch can offer. Living here as I do I find it an incredibly evocative take on both the landscape and the “binnengevoel” that life in NL engenders; it’s that bit removed, a little bit shrink-wrapped, and hermetically sealed. A mix between traditional sober Calvinist ways and high tech, cheek by jowl living. And I wonder why they called one of their tracks after that most momentous, decisive year in Holland: just thinking aloud…
This opener, 1974, patiently propels a gentle, attractive melody over some squelchy, processed beats – the track only awaking from hibernation near the end. As with a lot of Dutch “dance” acts (for want of a better word), Breek seem to be adept at setting up a strongly abstract, jazzy vibes – allier is a disparate piece, the squeals and blurts only start to congeal round a rhythm a couple of minutes in. It soon dissolves into a pleasant enough abstraction, the sounds disappearing like raindrops into a pond. Nocturnal is another quiet and slightly impressionist piece: this time there’s more of a beat, pointing towards that slightly soulful, slightly ambient techno sound – a quality that this country’s dance acts have always had a deep affinity for.
It’s a very good EP, this, maybe you need to live in Holland to appreciate its incredible and maybe instinctive relationship with its surroundings and psyche.