Roel Meelkop - 5 (Ambiences)

Intransitive 24

Even in this relatively tiny slice of the sound-art/music world, there must be dozens, if not hundreds of artists whom I’ve read about here or there, thought, “Hmm, it seems like I should hear this person” and, all too often, never get around to it. Though I do own but a single disc, Richard’s current dissection of 31 Jeph Jerman recordings over on IHM is causing a severe itch of this sort in yours truly, for instance. Roel Meelkop was another name out there for me, someone I’ve never made the move on, not due to any reluctance at all but more to do with time, money, etc. So, thanks very much to Howie and Intransitive for passing this one on: a rich, mysterious, deeply fascinating album.

In his liner notes (five paragraphs, incidentally, each beginning with the phrase, “Ink on paper”—five more ambiences), Meelkop speaks of the difficulties in constructing sound-art, particularly in how one gets at the sounds’ essences or hidden (I might say, poetic) meanings. Whether or not this is a more subjective undertaking than is normally the case anyway is an open question but Meelkop seems to think, and I tend to agree, that a certain percentage of…shallow formulations will show themselves over time even if they retain a (what may turn out to be) superficial attractiveness at present. I’m sure we’ve all had the experience of relistening to something that knocked our socks off even ten years ago with a pained expression as if to say, “Yikes, how did I hear so much substantiality back then?” So, even though I’ve no idea how “5 (Ambiences)” will hold up a decade from now, it sounds damn fine, solid and true today.

The melding of sonic elements with evocative structure is likely, for me, what causes these pieces to, generally, work so well. On the strongest tracks (ambiences 2 & 5, for my money), the listener is never quite able to concentrate on one at the expense of the other. As attractive or otherwise intriguing as a given sound is, you’re always conscious of its relation to the sounds that came before or follow, where it sits in the work, what it evokes by these relationships. Determining exactly why a given segment “makes sense” becomes as slippery as analyzing the success of a haiku. There’s a kind of drama, to be sure, but one filled with unexpected (but retrospectively logical) meanderings, false endings, surprising recurrences, etc. I’ve no real idea as to what his sources are though, aside from some clear—and lovely—use of field recordings (children’s patter, fireworks?), I get the feeling many are utilized in more hidden circumstances. In fact, though essentially electronic, there’s usually a strong sense of air in the pieces, even if that atmosphere has a slight tinge of ozone. There are stumbles on occasion--the inclusion of some academic-sounding sonorities at the close of the first track grates a bit and the fourth cut somehow fails to cohere for this listener—but by and large, Meelkop creates an individual, honest and very real sound-world here and, really, what more can one ask for?

www.intransitiverecordings.com