Release information
Limited edition CD (100 copies) + download
Released on esc.rec. (esc.rec.64) on May 27, 2019.
“The structure being so large, in order for an impression leading towards a possible overview, the participant, of necessity must encounter the limits of what they are able to hold in front of themselves. In doing so, a sort of ’stretching’ must take place, and with it, a kind of ‘friction’, which provides the energy necessary for Work, on a small scale.” Andrew McKenzie
On this album, Matthijs Kouw presents pensive and melancholic guitar-driven drones inspired by his longtime interest in Daoism and his visit to the Wudang mountains in China in 2007, where he studied Chinese meditation and martial arts.
Much like the dissolving landscapes in the cover art of this release, the drones on The Great Image Has No Form evolve and morph into transient pieces that linger on, only to slowly evaporate and merge with the undifferentiated.
Daoism teaches us that the foundational cannot be named and identified, but rather has to be experienced first-hand. This album is an invitation to the listener to dwell in the space of the unnamable and the mysterious, and to embrace it wholeheartedly.
Reviews
“A very refined album of drones […] with that right amount of roughness around the edges to make sure it does not become some new age meditation music. This is an excellent release.” Vital Weekly 1187.
“Drones are what we get, and then some. But, unlike many other records in this field there is a strong sense of movement, or physicality; of ideas actively formulating as the work progresses.” louderthanwar.com.
“It is ‘minimalist’ music, but these are nót minimalist drones: there’s a lot happening in the deceptively static sound field which is constantly moving and shifting.” ambientblog.net.
“Een bij de strot grijpend prachtalbum” De Subjectivisten.
Credits
All music (guitar, field recordings, sound bowl) by Matthijs Kouw
Mastered by Jos Smolders
Artwork by Xia Gui
Design by Harco Rutgers