The sound throughout Tales… is dreamjazz bittersweet, tunes actually do sound original. I have added the album to the top Eurojazz sounds I have encountered this year. Read the full list below. Note there isn’t – mercifully – anything flakey here at all. I had zero expectations going into this record but feared euro-ism cliché. But I emerge from listening refreshed and actually a bit encouraged and simply wanting to put it on again and again. One reason: I liked the piano playing of Thibaut Deryckere a lot. He reminds me a little of Ewout Pierreux. Just a smidge.
But really it’s the tunes that win the day even more than the playing. This album isn’t about a show off display of chops at all. There are greater instrumentalists out there it’s true than found here although everyone here sounds good to these ears. This isn’t an album where everyone feels the need to prove they can play. There is no need to go to absurd lengths given that is discernibly something long established.
One sign of the quality here is that making comparisons is actually hard and more to the point superfluous because of the originality of the writing. All the tracks have merits. ‘Undiscovered’ and ‘Isolated’ share an affinity with the poignancy of ‘Lullaby’ and it’s the well aimed sense of introspection and in the end hope that allows the album to hit an emotional bull’s eye. ‘Better Days’ has lovely alto work from Seppe De Bleser and an excellent organic bass guitar solo from Felix De Clerck which works in context beautifully.
Picture the scene: a table in a small deserted cafe or some dingy cellar before the well re-upholstered punters stumble in, a joint that has the wit to put on live music. Laid out, some lovely moules-frites washed down with a crisp Hoegaarden perhaps to snack and guzzle upon if peckish or thirsty in the breaks or a congenial distraction to kill the time during the occasional longueurs when over elaborate meta noodling takes the place of new ideas. A front row seat awaits although one may understandably prefer to lurk in the shadows further back. The turn? These guys playing these tunes. Hello.
The burning question to ask yourself then, dear reader, foreplay over, if you decide to listen to Tales of Six Cornered Snowflake. (And do put the awkward title to one side and rid it from your mind.) Would you crave to hear the Vermeulen sound live somewhere and go to the committed trouble of seeking the act out? Whaddaya reckon. Have I persuaded you enough to get lost in Bruges some enchanted evening? Let’s hope you’re all set to get the big coat on to head out some time because patently obviously, what more proof might you need, having consumed such an impressive tell all aural calling card of an introduction to the non-Belgian community, rosbifs, etc, they’re worth it. The trains and the boats and planes will bring you back, back home.
