Gilbert ISBIN / Geert VERBEKE : CD "Twins"

Cd available from Tern Records, Oudstrijderslaan 18, 8200 Brugge 2, Belgium
phone + fax : 32 / 50 / 38 65 88
E-mail : tern.vzw@pandora.be GILBERT ISBIN / GEERT VERBEKE
TWINS
TERN RECORDS VZW: CD-J05 June '99
Acoustic Music by:
Gilbert ISBIN (classical & prepared guitar)
Geert VERBEKE (Amphora, bells, Berimbau, birdcall, Caxixi, Himalayan Bowls, Kung Zee's, Paiste gongs & cymbals...)

Amphora
Royal Tune
Aaskia Maya
Secrets
Nazca
Wide
Threat
Embrace
Jonas & The Fish
Open Day
Apple
Loop
Tingsha's
Child
Koko
Peaceful and lyric music which will transform you into a weightlessness state and make you float in the blue yonder…

"It has been some time since I'd heard new material by Belgian guitarist Gilbert Isbin (remember the beautiful and pristine work PURE?). The good news is that TWINS is even better. 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."

A 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.

There'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-clichéd acoustic guitar, expertly supported by an imaginative percussionist.

By Robert Spencer

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