Few figures are as woven into the fabric of the area’s free-improvisation music scene as Jonas Van den Bossche. As a player who often appears alongside noise artists and one of the owners of performance space The Dining Room, he’s both a practitioner and a champion.
However, Van den Bossche’s latest releases have been compositions from the more formal side of his artistic psyche. Unlike the feral in-the-moment performances that see him ply his guitar with toolbox implements, his more recent output are honed studies in window-gazing reverie.
In fact, the songwriter in him is the star feature of the Are You Free Now EP, his newest and most expansive release ever. “It’s a different muscle, but I think it’s the same language,” says Van den Bossche. “I feel like one discipline informs the other. It’s nice to be able to walk away from a song I’m struggling with and play some noise, or have something more focused to work on when I’m stuck on a concept or a sound.”
While his live shows often have more spiritual kinship with noise freaks, Van den Bossche’s recent recordings would keep better company among fans of post-rock and the ambient side of 1990s indie rock. Indeed, the soundscapes on Are You Free Now are tapestries of shimmering meditation and patient revelation.
While some singing does come in on a couple songs, most of the gentle dynamics across this mostly instrumental, five-track reflection pool come from the latticework of rippling 12-string acoustic guitars. Taken together, it’s a collection of treks that conjure journeys within.
Are You Free Now is available on Bandcamp. Van den Bossche is currently on the road but will be concluding his Southeast tour with a Gainesville show on Sept. 25 at Wormhole Books & Music.
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However, Van den Bossche’s latest releases have been compositions from the more formal side of his artistic psyche. Unlike the feral in-the-moment performances that see him ply his guitar with toolbox implements, his more recent output are honed studies in window-gazing reverie.
In fact, the songwriter in him is the star feature of the Are You Free Now EP, his newest and most expansive release ever. “It’s a different muscle, but I think it’s the same language,” says Van den Bossche. “I feel like one discipline informs the other. It’s nice to be able to walk away from a song I’m struggling with and play some noise, or have something more focused to work on when I’m stuck on a concept or a sound.”
While his live shows often have more spiritual kinship with noise freaks, Van den Bossche’s recent recordings would keep better company among fans of post-rock and the ambient side of 1990s indie rock. Indeed, the soundscapes on Are You Free Now are tapestries of shimmering meditation and patient revelation.
While some singing does come in on a couple songs, most of the gentle dynamics across this mostly instrumental, five-track reflection pool come from the latticework of rippling 12-string acoustic guitars. Taken together, it’s a collection of treks that conjure journeys within.
Are You Free Now is available on Bandcamp. Van den Bossche is currently on the road but will be concluding his Southeast tour with a Gainesville show on Sept. 25 at Wormhole Books & Music.
Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
