Music for a performance by Marta & Kim, Knot on Hands, and Felix Zech
1. Rafting
2. Trio / Duo / Solo
3. Kim & Tijs / Lightbulb Creature
4. Strandbeest
5. Britt & Tijs / Yes Phrase
6. Droplets
7. Blooming
cd-r/dl/stream, October 2024
Available here
After Engel and Our Arms Grew Together, dance/circus duo Marta & Kim commissioned me for another project, this time collaborating with Felix Zech and the trio Knot on Hands.
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In 'Meander' five circus and dance artists weave a visual landscape. They slide and climb over and under each other, soar into the heights or intertwine into one body. Like a new river finding its course, or like a flock of birds migrating as one body, this is how Meander was created. In this continuum of movement and rhythm, the performers highlight their mutual trust despite the frictions and fractures between each other.
'Meander' is an ode to the process, to our constantly changing view of how we experience each other and our surroundings. By breaking free from traditional lines of hierarchy and positions of power, the five performers create a space where every moment can bring a new discovery, a new question, or a new insight.
Click here for Meander tour dates
Reviews
A Closer Listen
From the very beginning of his twenty-year career, Rutger Zuydervelt has been scoring music for an incredible array of mediums: films, games, dance performances and installations. Perhaps his most distinctive commission is his partnership with the dance/circus duo Marta & Kim, which began with As Much As It Is Worth and Engel in 2018 and is now renewed. While Meander, produced in collaboration with Felix Hess and Knot on Hands, stands on its own, we’re jealous of those who will experience the live debut at Festival Circolo, Tilburg (NL) this month.
To meander is to follow a winding or indirect course, but even a meandering course has its end. The cover art suggests a series of streams, which tend to chart their own paths. In the performance, the five circus and dance artists “slide and climb over and under each other, soar into the heights or intertwine into one body.” The experience is meant to highlight shifting views, relationships and perspectives on their way to a unified whole. Zuydervelt responds to the theme with an album that underlines his many compositional strengths; it is in turn ambient, experimental and electronic, sometimes suggesting “traditional” dance, other times reflection, eventually producing a sense of synergy.
The album begins with a watery whoosh and an onset of patterns and beats. “Rafting” recalls Zuydervelt’s super-fun quintet of beat-driven EPs (Hinkelstap,Tuimelval, Haast, Kadans, Malheur) from 2022-24. The handclaps suggest that the performers are having a whole lot of fun as well. Vibraphone tones produce a flowing, uplifting tone, and we can imagine the observers drawn in from the start. Before the track ends, it begins to calm down, its sudden beginning followed by a far more subtle ending. Shifting from stream to cloud, “Trio/Duo/Solo” takes place in a drizzle, as flute tones suggest the meander. Birds offer directions, growing increasingly insistent; even the solo dancer is not entirely solo.
As “Kim & Tijs / Lightbulb Creature” descends into drone, one feels the plummet; the water is now a stalactite drip, the sonics rustling with static glow. Seldom has an album’s mood shifted so swiftly, as if accompanying Dante layer by layer. This tonal variety is certainly a boon to the performers, whose bodies are primed to respond to different tempos and timbres. Thankfully the mood lifts in the bright and chiming “Strandbeest,” which honors the wind-powered “beach animals” of Dutch artist Theo Jansen. This is the part of the performance we’d most like to see; we hope Jansen is in attendance!
From this point, the cycle (somewhat) repeats, the sound of surf continuing the liquid theme in “Britt & Tip / Yes Phrase,” proceeding directly from the mouth of the strandbeest. The rhythms return, growing in intensity and frequency, suggesting multiple dancers converging or a spectator becoming a crowd. But then – imitating its title – the music again meanders, introducing a note of conflict in “Droplets” that remains unresolved until “Blooming.” The implication: progress is not a straight line. Humanity will stumble and fall on its way to an uncertain destination, often walking backward, retracing its steps and (hopefully) returning to the right path. Despite our differences, these performers suggest that it is better to arrive together than alone.
Subjectivisten
Nu is hij terug onder zijn eigen naam met Meander, dat eigenlijk aangevuld moet worden met (Music For A Performance By Marta & Kim, Knot On Hands, And Felix Zech). Dan weet je ook weer waar het voor is. Na de eerdere soundtracks Engel (2018) en Our Arms Grew Together (2022) als Machinefabriek voor het dans- en circus duo Marta & Kim (Marta Alstadsæter & Kim-Jomi Fischer), is er dus nu een soundtrack voor een nieuwe performance. Hierbij spelen ook acrobaten Knots On Hands (een duo) en Felix Zech een rol. Ze vormen een levend organisme, waarbij ze in rap tempo vloeiend van gedaante wisselen, hetgeen veel kracht en concentratie vergt van de spelers. En vertrouwen. Ze glijden en klimmen over en onder elkaar, stijgen de hoogte in of verstrengelen zich tot één lichaam; als een nieuwe rivier die zijn loop vindt in vele vertakkingen, als een stel dominostenen die een figuur vormen of als een zwerm vogels die als één lichaam beweegt; het idee is duidelijk denk ik. Die intensiteit hoor je ook terug in de zeven composities van samen 48 minuten, al heb je daar geen halsbrekende toeren. Wel weet Rutger hier met IDM, ambient, veldopnames en experimentele en leftfield elektronica er een ritmisch en meeslepend geheel van te creëren. De muziek, die zonder beeld ook overeind staat, doet ook niet per se vermoeden waar deze voor bedoeld is. Maar eigenlijk boeit dat ook niet. Nou ja, het boeit wel degelijk, maar dan door de interpretaties van Rutger. Door zijn muzikale bril is het een bijzondere, licht bevreemdende wereld in beweging, die je niet onberoerd laat. Qua invloeden gaat het van Fennesz tot Aube, Philip Jeck, Tangerine Dream en Beaumont Hannant, zonder dat iets ooit helemaal past. Daar is Rutger Zuydervelt nu eenmaal te uniek voor. Een knap, kronkelend, krachtig kunstwerk!
Vital Weekly
I have very little idea what is required music-wise for a dance and circus piece. I am sure some movement in the music would be handy. In the seven pieces, Zuydervelt displays the all-round composer he became. Shifting easily from moody drone-like pieces that got him the recognition he has (in ‘Kim & Tijs / Lightbulb Creature’), to pieces with rhythm, such as ‘Rafting’, which also has rafting sounds at the very beginning, complete with sequencing, drops and a melodic line. These various approaches work very well on this CD, and I assume also in the performance piece. Not staying with one musical direction but having various will no doubt open lots of possibilities to change moving around on stage. This ‘thing’ is going on tour, so check out if it’s anyway near you (well, you have to be in The Netherlands).
