Tindersticks 'Ypres'. Something different.

Posted by: Bruce Woodhouse on 20 November 2014

I am not great at labelling genres or indeed describing music but this is a very interesting and different album that one review describes as sitting somewhere between Arvo Part/Gorecki and minimalist soundtrack music like Nick Cave/Warren Ellis.

 

It is the soundtrack that plays in a continuous loop in the new WWI museum in the Ypres Cloth Hall. We visited in the Autumn and it has a very marked impact on the atmosphere in that excellent exhibition. I noticed it then but did not investigate further until seeing the review below.

 

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/a...-tindersticks-ypres/

 

Played at home it loses none of the impact. A profoundly melancholic piece that my wife found almost unbearable at times. Scraps of slightly discordant beauty and some more ambient sections.

 

There is a another review below, and a clip of one of the more conventional 'tracks'.

 

http://www.themetropolist.com/...-tindersticks-ypres/

 

Hope somebody finds this interesting.

 

Bruce

Posted on: 21 November 2014 by Jeff Anderson

Quite a few years ago I purchased Tindersticks "The Hungry Saw" on recommendation from this forum.  Wonderful album.  I need to put it back in more regular rotation.  I have listened to some of their other work on Spotify and always enjoyed the experience.

 

Thank you for the post on this release, it is on Spotify Premium (US) and I have added it to the Spotify listening list.  Look forward to hearing it.

 

Jeff A

Posted on: 21 November 2014 by Bruce Woodhouse

Hope you do enjoy it. I have three of their 'classic' early albums but none more recent. I may well seek some out but I think they also did some soundtrack work which is more like this 'Ypres' album.

 

Bruce

Posted on: 22 November 2014 by Jeff Anderson

Listened to this today and read the links.  I make the connection with Arvo Part (Te Deum) and Michael Nyman (The Piano).  But for me, this was way more powerful, even with the inevitable interruptions in my environment.  I can only imagine what it is like with the visual aspect of the museum as well.

 

This music is about everything, and nothing, and the reality that they are both exactly the same.  It is never about what you are experiencing, but the moment "just before" and the eternity "just after".  Another moment, perhaps.  Perhaps not.  Endlessly.

 

Thank you, Bruce, for the recommendation.

 

Set aside 54 minutes for yourself, no interruptions, if possible.  You might not listen to it often, but there will be times when you absolutely must.

 

Jeff A