| CD REVIEW Sonja Van Hamel |
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Band : Sonja Van Hamel 1999 saw the foundation of Amsterdam based Pop duo Bauer, consisting of keyboardist Sonja Van Hamel (straight out of Rietveld Academie, where she studied graphic design – she’s since been responsible of covers for Bauer, Gem, and Scram C Baby), and former Bettie Serveert keyboardist Berend Dubbe, the two sharing vocal duties. According to Wikipedia, their “…light-hearted songs on the one hand touch the work of Burt Bacharach, and on the other hand also to such artists as The Divine Comedy, Stereolab, and Scott Walker…” (translated from Dutch). Live, the duo is fortified by a guitarist and a drummer. After the 2006 orchestral album The Bauer Melody Of 2006 (which was their 4th full-length), Bauer took a break, and Van Hamel started a solo career under her own name. She’s written soundtrack music for a couple of short movies (in fact, this album is named after the Dick Tuinder movie by the same title which had its Dutch premiere in late September of last, and Sonja not only wrote 3 new Pop songs, but also most of the instrumental score of that movie’s soundtrack), and travelled to New York and San Fransisco several times to play with local musicians…and in doing so, she picked up some influences which showed themselves in the songs she started writing in the course of the last 3 years. Now don’t go looking for big stylistic changes here, Van Hamel is still and foremost a Pop music artist. The songs are mainly keyboard based, but that keyboard can take on the sound of piano, organ, or more “common” keyboard (occasionally orchestrated, it also emulates other instruments, like flutes and a sax…unless those sounds originated from the actual instruments thanks to guesting musicians, of course). Here and there, you get the addition of string sounds, and a couple of songs even have some guitar played in it (mostly banjo…I think, and I seem to remember having heard a bit of electric guitar somewhere). I’m not sure where I get the idea from, but here and there I get a somewhat melancholic feel…well, at any rate Sonja veers away from the Bauer light-footedness somewhat! To get (somewhat more than) a whiff of Sonja Van Hamel music, surf to myspace.com/sonjavanhamel, where no less than 9 of the 15 tracks on the album (including the mesmerizingly titled short instrumental “Tara Meets Sally”. I know this might not be the kind of music the average Concrete Web reader would be listening to, but “average” is, in a certain way…restricted to this website…only another word for “mainstream” (I’m obviously pulling your legs here, right), and I’m sure some of your more open-minded guys & girls will find this music quite soothing, when played late in the evening! 82/100 Tony. |