Elders by yadayn
Elders is the fifth album from London-based guitarist Gowaart Van Den Bossche, working under the moniker yadayn.
Elders translates to "elsewhere" in Dutch. As that title suggests, this album is a meditation on groundedness and the possibilities of other lives in other places. Recorded after having moved from Belgium to London, Elders is a meditation on the experiences yadayn had and the personal relationships he built during, in between, and after three trips to Iran, especially its provinces of East and West Azerbaijan between 2016 and 2018. While these trips ended up resulting in a personal failure, this album is one effort to make sense of the events in the form of a highly personal engagement with Iranian musical and literary traditions.
While many of yadayn’s previous albums have mainly consisted of solo guitar recordings, Elders marks a small but important shift in approach. A pronounced use of overdubs can be heard throughout the album, along with meaningful selections of field recordings from his time in Iran, Persian poetry written by one of many random acquaintances made while traveling in Iran, and loose interpretations of traditional songs. All have embedded their charms and taken on new meaning for Van Den Bossche.
It feels right to leave many of the personal experiences behind Elders untold, at least in a written language. In its place, yadayn’s musical transcription has provided something much more powerful. Sorrow, anger, joy, and calm all make time for each other during the course of the album. Its emotions are worn on the sleeve, weary yet wiser, and ultimately grateful for the experience.
Elders arrives as a glass mastered CD housed inside a quality hard cover book. Each edition contains 8 full color reverse print pages with a mix of artwork designed by R. Keane with photography from Annemarie Schwarzenbach and Gowaart. Mastered by James Plotkin. Limited to 100 editions.
Videos
Credits
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Originally released on Lost Tribe Sound. See Catalog: losttribesound.bandcamp.com
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JAN WILLEM'S TOPS OF 2020 - "It has become a modest, but big album, which without disqualifying his previous works, has become his best yet. Movingly beautiful!" - (translated from Dutch) (JW Broek) DE SUBJECTIVISEN
2020 IN REVIEW: A SENSE OF PLACE AND TIME - "It all feels at once hauntingly intimate yet exotic and remote." - STATIONARY TRAVELS
BEST COVER ART OF 2020 - SON OF MARKETING
"Yadayn tells his story about the long journeys with so much modesty and love that it makes you silent." - (translated from Dutch) (Erik Vandamme) MUSICZINE
"fascinating and evocative journey" - (translated from Italian) SOWHAT
"This bittersweet tone hangs over Elders like a drop cloth, but is part of its allure. The past few years have nudged Van Den Bossche to make a different type of music, and the listener, at least, is better off because of it." - (Richard Allen) A CLOSER LISTEN
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Total run time: 38 minutes
All songs written, played and recorded by Gowaart Van Den Bossche in London throughout 2019.
Spoken word on “Verder” written and performed by Saleh, recorded in Maragheh (Iran), July 2018.
Mixed by Gowaart Van Den Bossche and Jonathan Baltussen.
Mastered by James Plotkin.
Cover art by Rob de Vries
Back cover photograph by Annemarie Schwarzenbach, taken in 1930s Isfahan. Booklet photography by Gowaart, taken on two trips to Iranian Azerbaijan in 2018.
Layout and art design by R. Keane.
© Lost Tribe Sound LLC / Gowaart Van Den Bossche
℗ Settled Scores LLC (ASCAP)
