By Stef Gijssels
I guess it was time for an update because the band keeps releasing work and keeps touring. If you like their approach to music, these are also worth looking for. Their music builds slowly based on careful listening to the other players, and letting the musical grow naturally and organically. Often even the sounds of nature come to mind: the twittering of birds, the streaming of water, the plinking of raindrops on leaves, but then weaving all this into a coherent and collective whole, moving forward together on the ideas generated. The sound is often otherworldly and fascinating.
Dans Les Arbres – Ausland 21 (Self-Released, 2022)
Of the three albums featured in this post, Ausland 21 is my personal favorite. It’s available exclusively in digital format on Bandcamp. The album presents a single, 52 minute long, extended improvised performance, recorded live at Ausland in Berlin in December 2021. The piece unfolds slowly and deliberately, marked by the ensemble’s signature minimalist aesthetic, which evolves naturally from their collective interplay. That said, it’s far from consistently quiet or restrained—there are passages of striking intensity, even chaos or tension—yet the musicians remain unified, each instrument contributing seamlessly to the evolving whole. Despite its length, it’s captivating from beginning to end.
Dans Les Arbres – La Danse Du Hibou (Self-Released, 2023)
“La Danse Du Hibou” (“The Dance of the Owl”) is made up of five pieces, each representing an individual ‘dance’ if you can call it that, with an increasing number of owls in the successive titles. As with all their work, the focus is on the value of each individual sound—both on its own and in relation to the whole. Notes are used with great restraint, creating an atmosphere of quiet intensity. The instruments spin delicate, unconventional threads of sound that intertwine into a kind of sonic tapestry. The mood shifts unpredictably, at times light and whimsical, at others shadowy and foreboding—moving effortlessly between playful dances and looming darkness, yet always with full intensity and unpredictability.
Dans Les Arbres – L’Album Vert (Aspen Edities, 2024)
Their latest album changes the sound somewhat: it shifts to electric piano, with a little more electronics. This is actual a larger shift than possibly anticipated. It still has the quiet collective approach, but the sound colour has changed, a little away from the natural and organic foundation of their work. They describe the album as a “compilation of asynchronous steps for an imaginary dance floor. A strange but amusing place were eyes listen in and ears peek around. Glass breaks, someone stumbles, something always happens. The dancers inevitably hop to moments of tension of which they free themselves again and again“. Indeed, tiny things happen and the overall music is still worth recommending, but a little less than the two albums reviewed above.
Enjoy!