The best part about Dutch Week, for me anyway, was the discovery of the In A Cabin With International Recording Project, and I now anxiously await every new album. I vow to become a part of it catching on in the States. You’ve already heard me go on and on about how wonderful the project is; now I’ll go on and on about the latest–IN A CABIN WITH The Black Atlantic!
The Black Atlantic is Geert van der Velde, Marcel Wolthof, and Kim Janssen of the Netherlands with Brooklyn-based Leo Maymind (Spanish Prisoners) and Peter Silberman (The Antlers). While recording Reverence for Fallen Trees, our musician friends lived in a cozy little cabin in the Adirondacks, surrounded by snow and mountains and isolated beauty, a landscape reflected flawlessly in the ebb and flow of the album.
Much of the album is quite stark and minimalistic, with subtly changing piano lines or guitar chords, unique percussive sounds, and soft background vocals, layered with introspective, melancholic lyrics. And while I would say that it is all lovely and ethereal, there is still movement, picking up with “Old Dim Light” or “Dandelion,” and ‘slowing’ (not so much in tempo as in feel) with “Walked-on Wood” or “Reverence for Fallen Trees.” The end result is an album with incredible flow, no choppy inconsistencies that one might expect to hear from a musicians who don’t all normally play together, who have spent only a week writing and recording. The listening experience is cathartic, akin to that of Sigur Ros or Phillip Glass, and the listener would be better to hear the album as a whole, rather than pulling only a few songs.
What I really love about In A Cabin With is the ability to pick up on the recording environment and community through the sound and atmosphere of the music. In Reverence for Fallen Trees and perhaps especially (in my opinion) in the songs “Fragile Meadow,” “Walked-on Wood,” and naturally “Reverence for Fallen Trees,” you can feel the warmth of the cozy cabin, and you can feel the quiet of the snow outside. These artists have done an incredible work in reflecting their surroundings in their musical experience.
You know what else is great? The album is free for downloading on the In A Cabin With site. Check it out!!
You can check out this video that I can’t embed too 🙂 http://www.inacabinwith.com/blog/theblackatlantic/Movie.html
The Indie Handbook 
kind words. thank you.
Leo and Peter aren’t members of the band though, they gave guest performances on this album.
and please put up a link to beepbeep if you use images from our server 😉 thnx.
ps: here’s some video’s you can embed http://www.beepbeep.nl/bands/the-black-atlantic/video/
While I doubt the image was knowingly pulled from beepbeep.nl, it is now hyperlinked directly to the website anyway. I hope that it is more to your liking. Thanks for reading!
Do you think they’d be interested in a free-e-day listing, Eric?
I love the sound of this – we quite often play Phlip Glass late at night when we’re almost asleep, and the idea of him mixed with Sigur Ros is amazing!!
They might be. You’d have to ask them. It might also be worth talking to Maarten who heads up the whole In A Cabin With project. You can always tweet @inacabinwith.
you can also reach me through mail:) maarten [@] inacabinwith.com
maarten
Hey guys,
Thanks for the kind words!! And yes you can always tweet or e-mail 🙂
Maarten | IACW