After countless self-released 3? CD-Rs (none of which I?ve heard), here?s the first more widely distributed full-length CD by Holland?s Rutger Zuydervelt presenting six tracks of post-industrial ambience. Zuydervelt works with live instruments, mostly piano and guitar, and intense computer processing to create gloomy instrumentals.

Zuydervelt?s tracks develop very slowly and he takes all the time in the world to push them to the level of density his music requires. The album starts with the snaps and crackles of ?Kreukeltape?, its treated piano giving the track a distinct deteriorating charme. ?Somerset? features Zuydervelt on guitar and has a very physical presence to it, mostly through the noisy digital hiss in the background. In the middle of the CD, there are two relatively disappointing tracks, both of them hinting at Zuydervelt?s talent, but not arriving at their projected destination. ?J?esp?re ca? does just that with Zuydervelt delicately layering feedback and white noise on top of a repeating piano theme.

The magnum opus of ?Marijn? is the 18 minute album ender ?Lawine? though. Zuydervelt starts looping piano, but soon departs from there and plays a menacing melody followed by a transistory section that leads to the grand finale: A five minute noise orgy that sounds like plugging headphones into the turbine of an Airbus. This is quite a surprise when compared to the overall quiet nature of the remainder of the CD, but it sums up a very dense and satisfying album. 6/10 -- Stephan Bauer (17 July, 2006)