TWINS
REVIEWS
ALL ABOUT JAZZ, Robert SpencerA most unusual and inviting disc: Gilbert Isbin plays guitar (classical and prepared), and Geert Verbeke plays a variety of percussion instruments. Together they make meditative, refreshing, and inviting music that often tends toward East Asian models both in sound quality and in sonic depth.
here's a great variety to the sound. On Secrets,for example, they seem to be able to achieve the shimmering sound of a synthesizer with acoustic effects alone: the beautiful natural resonance of bells, underlined by a string effect that's almost vocal. The opener, Amphora, tends toward the world of the raga, while other tracks like Saskia Maya draw on the percussive sonorities of other, lesser known cultures. Threat plays off guitar scribbles that convey the sense of foreboding without ever breaking the musical texture. Nor is a grim visage required: the brief closing Koko, for example, is wild and playful.
This disc should not be missed by anyone who appreciates the sound of genuine and non-cliché acoustic guitar, expertly supported by an imaginative percussionist.
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Isbin displays his melodic and somber side along with percussionist Geert Verbeke on Twins. Fans of guitarist Ralph Towner may also take a shining to this delightful recording featuring gorgeous sublime balladry and ethnocentric stylizations as in Royal Tune and Amphora. Geert Verbekes utilization of Himalayan bowls and prepared piano coupled with Isbins artful acoustic guitar work emits mystical qualities purveyed by a sense of uneasiness. Fascinating tonal contrasts underscore many of these pieces as in the trance-like Secrets. Isbins subtle phrasing and circular motion coupled with Verbekes enticing employment of gongs, bells and cymbals on Open Day present movement which is well-stated yet barely above a whisper. Twins is intricate, delicate, playful and dreamlike yet conveys a sense of elevation or higher being as if spirits took part in the process.
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A beautifully rendered acoustic and percussion album. The music carries its own poetry, more than adequately replacing lyrics. The sound is quite original, very relaxing, yet stimulating at the same time. Although it's done using only, essentially, a classical guitar and original percussions, it creates a beautiful, melodic, landscape. Nothing useful could be added. Every aspect of the image presented is well... represented. From the first listen, it captures your attention and moves you along its own pathway. A voyage you gladly take. Guitar effects abound, and all are done through the use of hands on the guitar, no electronic or digital aid has been provided. Interesting guitar methods are found throughout and seem to be based more on emotion than technique, making the journey more worthwhile.
A great album to play while working, studying or simply relaxing, Twins is a great collaborative effort, bound to leave you wanting more music from this duo. An album I highly recommend.
COMPACT DISQUES DE JAZZ BELGEOn sait le guitariste Gilbert Isbin amateur de son étranges obtenus au moyen de guitares acoustiques préparées et son disque précédent, qui en faisait un usage assez radical, aura d û édconcerter plus d'un auditeur. Ce compact, en soi beaucoup plus abordable, n'en continue pas moins l'exploration de paysages sonores inédits. La différence est qu'il le fait ici avec plus de lyrisme, diluant son propos en une forme d'incantation, allant parfois jusqu'à le noyer dans une langueur méditative à l'opposé des combats qu'il se plaât à livrer avec son instrument. Grâce à son alliance avec le percussionniste Geert Verbeke, dont les Berimbau, cloches, amphores et autres gongs renforcent le côté technique de la musique, Isbin obtient des sonorités puissantes aux timbres soignés. A la croisée des chemins entre les ambiances ECM de Stephan Micus et celles du guitariste Ralph Towner, Twins apparaît certes beaucoup moins provocateur que Solo Works mais personne ne reprochera au guitariste brugeois d'avoir tempéré son originalité par quelques joliesses. Il donne ainsi l'occasion à une audience élargie de découvrir plus sereinement sa vision. Quand la recherche se pare d'une certaine sagesse, elle n'est pas loin d'aboutir !
EUROCK.COM , Aug.1999, USA (Archie Patterson)This album show off the great skill of Belgian guitarist Gilbert Isbin. It is a stunning collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Geert Verbeke, nothing short of magical as Gilbert’s delicate and adventurous finger work is complemented beautifully by a vast array of percussives.
Meditative music that results in beautiful melodies and modern improvisations, which are a pleasure to listen to.
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JAZZREVIEW, USA, Lee Prosser
The duo of Gilbert Isbin (Guitar) and Geert Verbeke (various percussion) bring to the listener an adventurous exploration into the various possibilities between these two instruments. All compositions are written by these two musicians.Opening with "Amphora" a melodic yet brief piece that feature both musicians. Geert keeping a steady rhythm while Gilbert explores his guitar gently playing over Geert's rhythmic patterns. "Saskia Maya" is a haunting piece beginning with Geert's bells and other shaker like percussion. Setting the stage for a strange yet wonderful journey into instrument exploration. Gilbert's low sounding guitar entering at various locations complementing the sea of percussion drifting across a sparse musical backdrop.The soft guitar intro on "Loop" along with the steady stream of background sounds make this an interesting and exploratory journey bordering on Industrial music. it's interesting how these two musicians play closely together creating sounds from space and time. Isbin and Verbeke play well together and have created an experience that will interest the listener, and may well propel the listener to further explore more recordings of this genre. It's fascinating the sounds that can be created, manipulated and explored by these two talented musicians.
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FOLKWORLD Anja Beinroth
Subtitled "New Acoustic Music", this album of ambient soundscapes fits somewhere between the jazz and new age categories. Gilbert Isbin is a Belgian acoustic guitarist whose jazzy improvisations are accompanied and enriched here by Geert Verbeke on assorted cymbals, bells and gongs. Probably not something that will appeal to many folk and world music fans, but if you're into solo acoustic guitar performances and have an interest in jazz, it may be worth a try.
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Gilbert and Geert are an acoustic guitar and percussion duo from Belgium who produce a dynamic sound from the combination of Isbin's jazzclassicalspanish-tinged guitar and Verbeke's mixed world percussion (amphora, bells, berimbu, birdcall etc) and prepared piano, which on first hearing, seemingly provides atmospheric backdrops for the guitar.
The general tone is set by the first track, 'Amphora', where a simple percussive backdrop, based on clickshakes and a hollow wooddrum, is skated over by simple acoustic guitar melodies picked slowly out. A more folklike guitar runs stridently through 'Royal tune', with muted piano accompaniment. Isbin is foregrounded in the opening to 'Saskia maya', where resonating gongs and shakers develop a shimmering atmosphere into which the guitar and piano tentatively enter. They search through the percussion, eventually reaching the foreground, the piano providing bass, but remain unresolved and sound improvised.Percussion opens 'Secrets' also - shimmering metal sheets, tubular bells, gongs, bamboo clacks, with simple guitar runs and accompanying voice placed over the surface - a delicate but somewhat dark piece. A brighter mood lights 'Nazca' with staccato guitar playing a lively sequence over a mechanical loop that sounds like a clockwork toy sample.The next 4 tracks ('Wide', 'Threat', 'Embrace' and 'Jonas & the fish') seem to form a sequence of shorter pieces - gongs and shaking metal percussion form a base for strident strings playing (in order) melodic, jazz (with piano), spanish and classical influenced guitar - very dramatic and intriguing.
'Open day' provides a more relaxed feel after the previous sequence, as rapid guitar runs are picked out over delicate tubular bells and occasional handbells and gongs which provide a very nicely placed counterpoint. The mood continues in 'Apple' with carefully picked slow spanish moods over a rolling sea of gongs. A pulsing electronica (possibly short gong samples) forms an unusual (in the context to date) atmosphere for some uncertain guitar which mutates into backward sounds on 'Loop', taking 'Twins' in another new direction.
'Tingsha's' emphasises what is happening in a number of tracks here - the percussion (tubular bells, gongs) is the main instrument while the guitar provides the accompaniment, picking notes and runs: which drives some of the extra dimension of this album. A nice touch in 'Child' is the guitar loop which is extracted from the opening melody, which joins the gongs to support additional guitar picking. 'Koko' is a light, almost throwaway (usually preceded on other albums by a long pause) of zitherish looping and kazoo. Obviously, you need to like acoustic guitar to enjoy this album. If you do, it is a very satisfying trip - the different styles of playing provide a broad variation by themselves, but the percussion elements add balance and depth which takes the experience into an additional dimension, as do the often angular directions. Well worth seeking out if the combination appeals.
AMAZINGS
Guitarist Gilbert Isbin and percussionist Geert Verbeke decided to join their talents and their artistic skills to create an album of experimentation, mysticism and meditation. Pushed by their easy skills to improvise, they succeeded in creating a collection of pieces which are quiet, hypnotic, with certain touches of Jazz. Without resorting, through inertia, to the electronic media, both musicians choose to embark on their journeys through sound from the acoustic dimension. Bells and gongs hold the aura of mystery that characterizes some of the themes. The classical guitar weaves melodies at times melancholy, at times abstract in nature. The result is unusual and easily attracts the attention of the listener.
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EUROCK.COM , Aug.1999, USA (Archie Patterson)
This album show off the great skill of Belgian guitarist Gilbert Isbin. It is a stunning collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Geert Verbeke, nothing short of magical as Gilbert’s delicate and adventurous finger work is complemented beautifully by a vast array of percussives.
Meditative music that results in beautiful melodies and modern improvisations, which are a pleasure to listen to.
read original article
A collaborative work with percussionist Geert Verbeke, the music is a mystical fusion of classical guitar, and prepared guitar soundscapes, complemented beautifully by a variety of exotic percussive textures and effects. The sound is simple, spatial and organic with emphasis shifting from a traditional guitar sound to experimental passages with ease. Highly recommended.
PLANET JAZZ, Spring 2000, Canada (Ethan Zames)The brevity, humour and unpretentiousness of the pieces render accessible, indeed delightful music that might otherwise be quite difficult. Highly recommended.
EXPOSE, OCTOBER 2000, USA (Steve Robey)Excellently recorded and endlessly evocative, this CD comes highly recommended, especially to Towner/Oregon fans.