Frederik Leroux & Kris Vanderstraeten - Zonder Webben [Aspen Edities 004]

Released earlier this year on the Belgian label Aspen Edities is "Zonder Webben", the collaborational album effort of guitarist Frederik Leroux and percussionist Kris Vanderstraeten built upon a series of improvisational sessions the two have been holding on a regular in the small village of Zichem / Belgium for the past four years now. Over the course of this time the two artists developed a distinct musical language of their own which is now manifesting within seven tracks rolled out over the course of 37 minutes, bringing forth calm and collected, yet highly improvisational textures which include echoes of remnants of fragments of what once was Post-PostRock but now has become a layer of of naturalistic, yet somehow disturbing outerworldy ambience in the opener "Wonderwel" whereas the follow up "Lui Uil" weighs in a very free understanding of Rock and Ultra FreeJazz, "Het Schuim Op De Golven" meanders in between Post-PostRock and reverberating Ambient realms before "Druppels En Knuppels" amalgamates tongue-in-cheek cuteness and minimalism in a way that makes up for our favorite track on this album. With "Nachternoen" we see the pair of artists go down a deep, emotional route of naturalist, slightly twangy guitar play which could be described as an experimental, stripped down to the bone take on Desert Blues, "RRR" continues on a similarly minimalist path despite relying on a harsher, more distorted and scraping metallic sound aesthetic and the final cut "Liever Lag" is as calm and beautiful as the end of a hot summers day out there in the desert for sure. Recommended!

Album artwork on Instagram!