Released: October 9th 2010, By Groove Unlimited
This is our very first album together and it has a very nice story to it. We first met at a Synthesizer Meeting organized by the Dutch 'Synth Forum' in 2006. There we started talking about synthesizers and synthesizer music and found out that we shared the same fascinations. As a result Michel signed up as Synth.nl in 2007 with Groove Unlimited. We worked a lot in the studio together after that remixing and mastering. Since then we have become very good friends and we visit each other on regular basis. Also our wives, kids and even the dogs like each other. In 2010 our wives decided to rent a house together in the Belgian Ardennes for a weekend. We both brought a synthesizer and a laptop and tried to make music together for the first time and that went very well actually. We recorded quite some tracks there. After the weekend we decided that we should release this music on CD. So we started on finishing the music together when we got back in our own studios. The result is this album called 'Refuge en Verre', which was the name of the house we rented. We got the inspiration for the music we played from the beautiful nature in the Belgian Ardennes and the nice time we had with our families over there. Most of the tracks were played live as improvisations in the temporary studio that we created in the rented house.
Please note that these samples are only 5 minute excerpts of the actual songs. The whole CD is over 70 minutes long and holds 8 tracks!
For sale at:
Groove Unlimited (CD + Download)
Track info:
| Nr | Name | Length | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Refuge en Verre | 12:16 | Refuge en Verre is the name of the House that we rented in the summer of 2010 with our families and where the music on this CD was created. There, we made music together for the first time. A whole CD with brand new music was the end result. Refuge en Verre was also the first track we played together over there. |
| 2 | La Roche-en-Ardenne | 08:37 | La Roche-en-Ardenne is the name of the town were the 'Refuge en Verre' album started. It is located in the beautiful Belgian Ardennes. This track was inspired by the beautiful nature that surrounded us. French is the main language in this part of Belgium were the other half speaks Dutch. Because we were in this French-speaking part we decided to use French titles for the rest of the tracks as well. |
| 3 | Orage d'été | 08:07 | The weather in the Belgian Ardennes can be very unpredictable. Storms can appear very quickly from nowhere. 'Orage d'éte' means 'Summer Thunderstorm' in French. The inspiration for this track came from the sound of a distant thunderstorm approaching while still enjoying a nice summer evening drinking a glass of wine outside on the terrace. |
| 4 | Coucher du soleil | 10:24 | The view that we enjoyed from the backyard of the house in the Ardennes was stunning already during the day. It was even more stunning when the Sun went down in the evening. 'Coucher du Soleil' means 'Sun Set' in French. The amazing red glow that overflowed the green surroundings is what inspired us to compose this track. |
| 5 | Contemple du ciel | 08:13 | On one particular evening the sky was very clear and a beautiful star-filled sky presented itself. We spent some time watching the stars with our wives. 'Contemple du ciel' translates to 'Stargazing' in the English language. At a certain moment a quick-moving object passed by, which turned out to be the International Space Station. That special moment was what started this track. |
| 6 | Rosée du matin | 05:15 | When the night is clear it usually cools down very quickly, which often results in 'morning dew' on the plants and trees. In the early morning we went out to walk the dogs and then we would still see this morning dew. A beautiful sight that inspired us to make this track and that is also what 'Rosée du matin' means in French. |
| 7 | Combat des coqs | 11:21 | Every morning the whole family woke up very early because the neighbor's rooster started crowing. Normally that happens once and then it is silent again, but there happened to be a second rooster a bit further away that responded to every call the first one made. This 'rooster-echo' lasted for 20 minutes on a row and sounded like a real 'rooster fight', which is exactly what 'Combat des coqs' means in French. |
| 8 | Soleil levant | 06:22 | Because of the roosters crowing next door we woke up very early every morning and we also got to enjoy the early 'Sun Rise' and not only the Sun Set. So our nights were a bit shorter than originally planned, but that left a lot of time during the day to create music. This last track was inspired by that beautiful event that is called 'Soleil levant' in French. |