Glass Museum – “Fans of GoGo Penguin or Mouse On The Keys should enlist” Mojo
The ultimate modern marriage between the mathematics of electronic music, pure traditional jazz and orchestral arrangements, Belgian instrumental duo Glass Museum are set to release their sophomore album ‘Reykjavik’ on the 24th April via Sdban Ultra.
Since 2016, Glass Museum’s raw, sunny energy has been uniting the surgical precision of the best contemporary jazz, à la Gogo Penguin and Badbadnotgood, with the electronic influences of Jon Hopkins or Floating Points. Consisting of Brussels musicians Antoine Flipo (synths) and Martin Grégoire (drums), Glass Museum have risen through the ranks and they released their aptly named debut album ‘Deux’ in 2018. The resulting eight tracks that make up ‘Reykjavik’ prevail at the intersection of classical music, electronics and jazz, a chiaroscuro whose highlights are defined by their energy and vibrant colour. For Grégoire, this record was a matter of “returning to the roots of a more effusive music,” melancholy but intensely alive – beating, even. Cinematic, too.
Ahead of the release, Glass Museum are pleased to share the video to album track ‘Clothing’, directed by Simon Medard. “Clothing was composed as a live remix of our formal track ‘Opening’, the opening piece on our first album “DEUX”. The idea was to give ‘Opening’ another dimension when playing live by accelerating the arpeggiator of the original track and by adding a groovy, downtempo beat on the first part, and secondly to conclude our live performances with a regular techno beat that would give an electronic /dancy sensation. After re-thinking the final result, we decided to give that version its own life in the studio and it became ‘Clothing’, deflecting ‘Closing’ to a tribute to the orange cloth presented on our album cover”.
STREAM HERE
The video invites you to bond and communicate with nature. To open our eyes to the organic, to the details that surround us. To reconnect with the idea of being more grounded but also more active, more creative with our environment. Leave our self-centered objectives to return to the collective and to a fair questioning as to our place on this planet. “Fans of GoGo Penguin or Mouse On The Keys should enlist” Mojo****
GLASS MUSEUM ‘REYKJAVIK’ NEW ALBUM RELEASED 24TH APRIL VIA SDBAN ULTRA
Having initially won the opportunity to perform at the Dour Festival, Tournai back in 2016, Glass Museum have picked up a series of awards and distinctions back home in their homeland and they now find themselves dining at the top table of Europe’s contemporary music scene. The international music scene opened itself to the band in 2019, with the duo performing at Elb Jazz 2019 in Hamburg, the legendary Ancienne Belgique in Brussels and the Iceland Airwaves Festival, Reykjavik before finally heading back to the studio enriched and enlightened. Opening with the grandiose album title track ‘Reykjavik’, this virtuoso pairing’s sound effortlessly combines piano with drums, jazz with electronica, and delicacy with dynamism, while new single ‘Abyss’, floats along on wave of melancholy and optimism, where rhythm and melody collide to provide a cinematic experience. Across their second album, Grégoire and Flipo have created their own musical universe to create an authentic musical identity. “We have a much more mature relationship with music than we did before,” confides Flipo. “We’re not trying to prove something through technique anymore – we want to bring sounds to life.” But the foundational element of Glass Museum’s music is still the duality of the two musicians. “Antoine has this epic side in everything he does, including composition,” considers Grégoire. “He’s also got the skill to translate a more classical tradition in a contemporary way.” On the other hand, Martin “has the ability to adapt to anything,” Flipo says. “There’s a lot more percussion on this album, because we have a very open dialogue between us that allows him to take over any kind of sound.” Sdban Records is an independent record label, obsessed with grooves. Based in Ghent, Belgium, it is home to such artists as Black Flower, TaxiWars, De Beren Gieren and STUFF.
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