Less Is More
In August 2021 Moving Furniture Records curated a music program accompanying the minimal art exhibition ‘Less is More’, presented by Polderlicht at Factor-IJ, Amsterdam. Alongside performances by Reinier van Houdt, Coen Oscar Polack and Fani Konstantinidou, I had the pleasure to also play my music in front of beautiful artwork, like the painting by Wladimir Zwaagstra (as used on my new CD, which you can see on the right)
On this occasion, my performance was recorded live. This CD features the full set – no edits, no cuts.
This live set merges my fascination for minimalist art and an idiosyncratic take on drone music, offering warm and organic atmospheres in which the listener drifts away, losing not only senses of time and space, but – maybe, too – oneself.
Less Is More is my 7th live album, and released by Moving Furniture Records as CD and download, and is also available through all streaming platforms.
Reviews
Vital Weekly, Frans de Waard
Officially this CD is the first release of 2022 for both Orphax and the label he operates, Moving Furniture Records. I must say that I think ‘Less Is More’ is not a great title. If anything, it should be the slogan for all of the Orphax works. Sietse van Erve, the man behind Orphax, works within the field of drone music, exploring long-form electronic sounds for a lengthy amount of time. That’s what he has done for several years now. In August of this year, Van Erve curated a music program
in Amsterdam, and he played a concert. That is what we have on ‘Less Is More’. There are no edits, no cuts, just the complete live recording, almost forty minutes long. The piece starts gently, with an organ-like sound, and slowly the colours change. Different filters or sound effects create such an effect, becoming a bit psychedelic. At this point, fifteen minutes in, I thought if Orphax for once decided to stick to a single drone for the entire length. He doesn’t. Shortly after that, the tone changes again and slowly return to a less full spectrum. From there on, it becomes a single drone and then builds up again until, at thirty minutes, there is even a bit of noise in a complete overdose area, ending in the final few minutes in standard drone terrain. All of this one could quickly call solid Orphax territory. A fine work, and an Orphax fan such I am, is an indispensable item. However, I wonder about this: had the past two years not been so tiring when playing live concerts and
Orphax played more shows, would this one be on CD? Knowing Orphax to prepare these concerts as worked out compositions, I wondered why not present the studio version of ‘Less Is More’? Maybe ‘Less Is More’ is also a statement, a call to return to a normal concert situation. (FdW)
Nieuwe Noten, Ben Taffijn
‘Less is More’, dat volgende maand verschijnt, is ook een live-set. Orphax gaf in augustus van dit jaar een concert tijdens de minimal art tentoonstelling ‘Less is More’, georganiseerd door Polderlicht in Factor-IJ, Amsterdam. De complete opnames zijn nog niet beschikbaar, maar een ruim zeven minuten durende voorbeschouwing geeft een aardige eerste inkijk. Met name omdat Orphax nogal consistent is in zijn muzikale uitingen. Want ook hier zie ik de klankwolken weer aan mij voorbij trekken, ook hier lijkt de tijd weer stil te staan. Tegelijkertijd laat deze korte vooruitblik al horen dat er in deze set meer gebeurt dan op de twee andere albums. De drone bezit hier een zekere gelaagdheid, ik verheug me nu al op de complete opnames.
CD limited to 200 or digital available in the Moving Furniture Records webshop.
Or find the album in your preferred streaming service: https://orcd.co/orphax_less_is_more