This Body This Life
Carton, 2023
8/10
The sophomore solo effort from the multi-instrumentalist Jozef Dumoulin, the 14 curious songs here explore vast timbres and sonorities that mesh avant-garde and experimental ideas into a very distinct jazz-ish formula.
“Ear Of The Ear” opens the listen with a unique mood that blends piano and synthetic drums into an artistic climate of electronica, and “Kindred Touch” follows with melodic and flowing keys that are as mesmerizing as they are atypical.
Further along, “Regular Encounters” carries a ominous quality that welcomes an unpredictable droning and wordless vocals, while “Altijd Koko Ziek” brings in Ayaan Dumoulin on keys and vocals for a raw, quick blast of more rock focused ideas.
Deeper still, “Seed Syllables” showcases meticulous and playful piano patterns that use bits of speaking for effect, and “Everything To Look Forward To” exits with a low buzzing and cinematic keys that are bare, cryptic and absorbing.
An extremely original body of work, Dumoulin treats music like art, where field recordings and organic instruments blend into an ambient and intriguing journey.