Freiband is one of the musical projects by the ever-prolific Frans de Waard. With Frans being one half of Beequeen and me being the other half, it is a bit difficult to be fully objective about this CD. However, to me, Freiband is one of the most interesting projects Frans is involved in. The reason for this is that Freiband is the musical project that comes closest to the person of Frans de Waard. He likes his music as devoid as possible of emotions, but Freiband has proven to be an exception. Often, the music has a “warmer” side and appears to be made with more depth in composing and structure and, as a bonus (perhaps as a consequence), is more accessible than say Kapotte Muziek or Goem. On this album, Frans uses sounds created in 2002 by his then 5-year old daughter Elise. These sounds (sometimes on musical instruments, sometimes not) were reworked on the laptop, giving the music that typical “laptop-sound”. Most of the tracks on this album have been groomed in several live performances. Opening with Elise blabbing out “Freiband!” this CD more or less follows those live sets. At times the origins of the sounds can be detected in the music (as in Vuur ‘fire’ and Storm), at times this is harder to recoup (as in Knippers ˆcutters- or Daisees). Personal favourites are ‘Bij’ and ‘Daisees’ with their slow pulses and keyboard sounds. Other pieces (like Rammel ‘rattle’ or De Kabale Brug ‘the noise bridge’) are slightly more fragmented. The title Leise (“quiet” in German) is a clever anagram of Elise‚s name. The “toot toot toot toots” at the end of the CD are charming little audio signatures of Elise and were previously also used to good effect in Beequeen performances. A review of this album would not be complete without a few words on the sleeve. This one is adorned by a gorgeous line drawing of Elise with cats in her arms by Rui Vitorino Santos. It is a charming, almost naïve portrait and surprisingly well-characterized. Interestingly enough, much like the music on this CD.
Freek Kinkelaar