| CD REVIEW Zita Swoon Group |
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Band : Zita Swoon Group In 1993 the band A Beatband, with members playing in several other bands (including founder Stef Kamiel Carlens, whom also played in dEUS, the initial band also included Tom Pintens and Aarich Jespers), entered the music scene in Antwerpen (Belgium) with the EP Jintro Travels The World In A Skirt. In 1995 the same group of musicians, but this time under the bandname Moondog Jr., released the album Everyday I Wear A Greasy Black Feather On My Hat, and soon after got into legal problems over the first part of their name. Therefore they changed their monicker to Zita Swoon. The combination of good song material and the media attention because of the legal controversy got the album great reviews, resulting in appearances at such prestigious festivals as Lowlands, Pinkpopand Rock Werchter. It also got the band into Most Wanted with Michael Blair on MTV. Under their new monicker the band recorded the soundtrack Music Inspired By Sunrise, A Film by F.W. Murnau, released in 1997, before issuing the “proper” studio album I Paint Pictures On A Wedding Dress a year later. 1998 was also the year the band first performed in the US, namely at SXSW. In 1999 the band was awarded a grant of 1.5 million Belgian Francs (just under 37,200 Euros) as well as the title of Cultural Ambassador Of Flanders (a title previously awarded to DAAU and dEUS) by the Flemish government. Since then, the band produced a total of 5 more studio (including the 2000 released dance performance soundtrack Plage Tattoo/ Circumstances, 2001's Life= A Sexy Sanctuary, 2004's A Song About Girls, 2007's Big City, and 2008's Big Blueville), 2 live (2001's Live At Jet Studios and 2005's Band In A Box – the latter also issued on DVD) albums, and one compilation (2009's To Play, To Dream, To Drift – An Anthology). In 2009 Stef Kamiel Clarens participated with Lexus Concert to perform crossover gigs at the Klarafestival with a musician from a completely different style and background. Winner of the concert wins a private try out concert on board a new Lexus RX 450h. Also in 2009, Zita Swoon celebrated its 15th anniversary, and announced a course change: in the following years the collective would make specific creations only, and to specify the collective nature of the outfit Carlens decided that the band would henceforth be known as Zita Swoon Group. Not having lost his touch with the song as such, Carlens envisioned to find parallels with dance, theater, or ensembles from Classical and Experimental music. Dancing With The Sound Hobbyist is the first of such collaborations with dancer Simon Mayer and choreograph Anne Therese De Keersmaeker (of ensemble Rosas). In other words, it's a dansed concert, which is still touring to date, and of which the non-theater going music fan can now enjoy the studio recordings (done at Carlens' own Rabbitfieldstudio)! This is mostly an instrumental album (“Maridadi” is the only actual song, with some female singer bringing Spanish lyrics in a duet with another female singer doing her part in English...there's also some female “vocals” on the album closing “Eb Bas” - singers should be Eva and Kapinga Geysel – But hey, I understand the song is not during the stage performances) which is, as mentioned in the info sheet we got along with the promo download of the album, strongly based on the percussion basis brought by drummer Aarich Jespers and percussionist Amel Serra (instruments used include some of the normal drum parts such as the snare drum, floor tom and cymbals, but there's also traditional Latin percussion instruments such as congas, bongos and the surdo...there's also the big Orff-reminiscent big drums, a xylophone, and an assortment of “found objects”: cans, pans, and enormous iron tube, several vases and glass lamps, and more). Also from the info sheet, I learned that the studio recordings included the use of some vintage keyboards, inclusing an old Steinmetzbuffet piano, a Wurlitzerelectric piano, a '60s Philicordia organ, and a Fender Rhodes. Completed by an assortment of acoustic and electric guitars, played by Carlens himself, the overall sound is at one time introvert, and at occasional moments rather explosively extrovert. An album which invites to be heard several times in a row. A pity therefore that no full-length versions of the tracks can be found on the internet. There's 44-second samples to 6 tracks at the band's own (www.) zitaswoongroup.be, but you'll find only music off other Zita Swoon albums at either (www.) myspace.com/zitaswoon or (www.) last.fm/music/Zita+Swoon. Better then, to seek out the album's page at one of your trusted online sales sites, for they usually provide 30-second samples to àll tracks on an album (11 in this case, making the album last just under 45 minutes). 90/100 Tony. |