Andrew Chalk - The End Times CD

REVIEW BY FRANS DE WAARD, VITAL WEEKLY : As I am playing this new release by Andrew Chalk, I realize a few things. One is, perhaps, the most obvious, I have known the man's music for quite some years, but somehow I think I hardly ever review his music. His solo work and his work with Timo van Luijk (as Elodie) didn't make these pages a lot. I believe I wrote about all his works with Christoph Heeman, a duo called Mirror, but that was already many years ago. But the solo arist hardly makes it to these pages. Maybe his releases, all wonderfully packed, so I am told, are too limited for promotion? The other thing I realized is that I have no clue about Chalk's setup when producing music. His music is very delicate and gentle. A couple of keyboards, maybe a guitar? The guitar seems to be the most likely candidate after repeated listening. Some loops of percussive elements? That kind of thing, perhaps. But for all I know, Chalk uses a laptop and some software, some of which plugins may imitate glitches, hiss and crackles. I have no idea, but the results are excellent. Chalk plays throughout short music pieces, which are very much to the point, even when they are, at times, very watercoloury and sketchy. Chalk paints with sound, but not with paint, not with firm strokes, but with touches, brushes and a pencil. Never going too much into the world of drones, Chalk likes a more open approach. Notes, not drones, seem to be his message. But, as I said, they aren't absent. They have a background role, such as in 'At Sunset'. That happens, and the sun setting here as I write these words and Chalks' moody tones fit this time of day very well.