Almost simultaneously with Wil Bolton‘s “Chimes for a Wall Drawing” (inspired by a Sol Lewitt wall drawing), Machinefabriek has released his new full length album “Sol Sketches“, containing sketches for a score for a documentary about Sol Lewitt (by Chris Teerink) .
That may seem coincidental but it’s not that strange considering that Lewitt is closely linked to the conceptual art and minimalism – which is of course also where these musicians their main inspiration.
Rutger’s releases never fail to amaze me, especially when considering his output rate. This one is no exception. Or maybe it is, in a way, because “Sol Sketches” differs from most of his other releases in the fact that the piano is the main instrument here, not the guitar.
A high-pitched electronic layer starts off the album, forming the encadrement of the minimalist piano themes that return throughout the album in various variations.
The basic themes and bare piano is somewhat reminiscent of Erik Satie’s music. Sometimes the electronic embedding layers are interacting delicately with the piano playing. At other moments there is no melody, but just a single note hammered rhythmically, developing an interplay with it’s own reflections.
There are 21 sketches that are subtly ordered ordered, only slowly revealing their development, when finally (in Sketch 20), the different elements come together perfectly.
With this music alone, “Sol Sketches“ manages to raise interest to further investigate Sol Lewitt‘s heritage.
Let’s hope the full video documentary will be available in the future, too.
By the way: the physical releases (CD or 4×10″ vinyl) come with a custom made Sol Sketches eraser!
Machinefabriek – Sol Sketch 20
Thanks for this. I really like this album and respect Rutger’s way of pushing himslef into different areas ~ nice to see it getting more attention.