| CD REVIEW Tom Pintens |
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Band : Tom Pintens In all honesty, I'd never consciously heard of Tom Pintens, even though this is his 3rd solo album since 2007, and in spite of the fact that he's been active in the Belgian (more specifically Antwerpen) Rock/ Pop scene. During the '90s he's played with Flowers For Breakfast (oh my, after a quick check I found out I have a 1996 album by that band!), joined Think For One, and then began a lengthy tenure as guitarist/ keyboardist with Zita Swoon (which he joined when they were still named Moondog Jr.). On the sly he still played with his own bands (among which 2000 Monkeys), and acted as engineer/ producer for the likes of In Kata, female Folk sensation Laïs, and Billie King. In March 2007 he released his self-titled debut album (through V2), with music which was best described as movie soundtrack-ish, and vocals done in Dutch, with poetic lyrics written for him by novelist/ musician/ actress Ellen Schoenaerts. Then, in 2008, Pintens announced his departure from Zita Swoon, their Band In A Box tour to be his last collaboration with the band. Soon after he was found back in the studio (probably his own PintensPalace) to record sophomore album Winter Maakt Ons Vrolijk, released in February 2009 by V2. Released at a time when Belgium was already struggling to get a government goin' (I'm sure Belgian politicians are the laughing stock of the rest of the world by now!) some of the songs on the album dealt with just that! More political issues were touched at in the small radio hit “In Charleroi”. Anyway, since then Pintens has led a busy life with several musical projects following each other. He produced an album for Dutch band Roosbeef which suddenly became somewhat of a national hit, and he sporadically joined the band on stage (like when they sold out Paradiso, or played at the Lowlands festival). Soon after he was asked to compose the musical score for the Dutch movie Iep(having already music for a bunch of short-movies before). According to my info the musician never before came this close to his first big love, Classical Music. Then Dutch artist Spinvis invited Pintens and his band to act as support on a tour of theirs, after which he got a guesting role in Spinvis' surrealistic music movie Het Geheugen Van Lupo Thomas (which marked Spinvis' debut ad movie director). In that period Pintens also hired himself out as guitarist/ keyboardist/ clarinetist for a tour in Europe and the US with Greenland's Nive Nielsen And The Deer Children (alongside members of the legendary Giant Sand...and Dez Mona also invited Pintens to come and join him on stage a couple of times (sometimes with a band, sometimes in a duo with Gregory Frateur). In his own studio he also recorded Rudy Trouvé's new album Tape Cuts Tape, and co-produced Luc De Vos' EP 'K Heb In Mijn Jeugd Als Een Beest Gezopen. With De Oogst Pintens takes a new turn on the musical path that is his solo work. Re-jumbling his rich collection of influences, he went for a guitar-oriented Pop album. Just like on his previous albums, the lyrics are by Schoenaerts (in collaboration with colleague Dries Helsen), and the vocal stylings give the album's material a deep-intimate character, in spite of the strong drum and guitar play. And about that guitar play...the lead guitar is perhaps best described as a somewhat minimalistic type, occasionally with (Psycho) Country influences. But there's also “normal” lead guitar play, a very elastic and expressively one underlaying the somewhat sedate (and for once take that as a positive thing) vocal stylings. Nevertheless, there's also a couple of moments when the guitarists are allowed to freak out somewhat. Check out the ending to “Oude God”, for instance. There's also some additional instrumentation here and there, like some piano/ keyboard/ organ sounds here and there, or the horns in the album's title track...which is also the only track off the new album which you'll find posted at (www.) myspace.com/tompintensmusic (the other songs all taken off the previous album). End conclusions...here's a Ducth-sang guitar album which is luckily far removed from the likes of Holland's Marco Borsato or Belgium's own Clouseau. Not that I dislike what those artists bring for one iota (in fact, I am rather sentimental about some of the first's songs, and the vocal stylings in it – gosh, what an incredible vocalist that!), but the intimate atmosphere on De Oogst make it a truly great album, propelling Tom Pintens into my list of Favoured Belgian Musicians. Obviously, I cannot but back that quote but by adding De Oogst to my “Best Albums Of 2011” lists. Gee, I just might start looking out for Pintens' earlier albums too! 98/100 Tony. |