★★★★ from HUMO for Slumberland feat. Sainkho Namtchylak live at BRDCST
SLUMBERLAND
SLUMBERLAND
Slumberland embraces the experiment.
The band led by sound artist Jochem Baelus deploys an arsenal of home-made mechanical instruments unleashes a hypnotic krautrock/post punk sound with echoes of distorted exotica, long-lost soundtracks and boozy rock & roll greats.
Since 2013, Jochem Baelus has been besieging the music scene with his re-engineered sewing machines and film projectors.
With its obscure, veiled songs, his self-titled debut album in 2013 on the experimental Dutch label 'De Zesde Kolonne' made an impression for its Lynchian atmosphere, prior to which he had already gained a reputation with bands including Echo Beatty.
It didn't go unnoticed by bands such as Tindersticks and King Dude, with whom he would later share the stage.
After several tours in Germany, Eastern Europe and Switzerland, a 'live' tape was released with collaborations from the 'Psychfest' festival Eindhoven and he was invited to take part in the compilation album 'I said no doctors' alongside the likes of Silver Apples and Dan Deacon, on the American label 'Dymaxion groove records'.
After numerous solo shows, in 2018, he decided to expand his band to a trio which Baelus immediately recorded a new full album with.
For Slumberland's second full album 'Sea, sea, sea, drifter / See, see, see, drifter' (Consouling Sounds), Slumberland crossed the Atlantic, making landfall in Montreal to work with engineer/producer Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, amongst many others known from 'Jerusalem in my heart'. As the unofficial sound guru for the Canadian label 'Constellation', he is right at home with the cinematic portraits and tribal realms of Slumberland.
With his help, the album was recorded in a former refrigeration unit amidst the colourful Dutch tulip fields of Voorhout. Though there’s little evidence of this cheerful decor.
The album was mixed at studio Hotel2tango, Montreal (known for Godspeed You! Black Emperor, among others...) and sounds murkier, rawer and more explosive than its processor. The songs unfold in a constant friction between tactile textures and spare melodies, with the inky voice of Baelus increasingly at the forefront in the role of master of ceremonies.
After Alfredo Bravo (Flying Horseman) left the band in 2019, now the two drummers Erik Heestermans (Steve Gunn) and Frederik Meulyzer (Stray Dogs) provide an organic, visceral counterweight to all that mechanical noise.
In this configuration, the band has made a name for itself as an intense live experience, entrancing audiences in a collective, repetitive, timeless ritual. Or, in the words of HUMO magazine: ‘Beautiful to watch, heavenly to hear’.
In 2020 Jochem Baelus set out to investigate how he could use his expertise to go into dialogue with other cultures through his sound sculptures. His fascination for the use of the human voice as a means of communication within certain communities soon led him to 63-year-old avant-garde, voice artist Sainkho Namtchylak.
Namtchylak grew up in Tuva, an autonomous republic in Russia north of Mongolia. She is known as one of the first recognised female 'overtone artists', a privilege usually reserved for the male part of the population. She studied in Moscow and combined this with shamanistic Siberian chants, jazz, avant-garde music and worked with various musicians, from Evan Parker to
to Tinariwen. In June 2020 Jochem visited Namtchylak in Vienna where it soon became clear that their collaboration was full of potential. An encounter between 2 worlds, from which the interaction between the material and the immaterial, new music and audiovisual forms are distilled.
For their collaboration on Slumberland's third upcoming full album Lightkeeper Baelus worked with the Canadien/Lebanese sound engineer Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem In My Heart, Constellation Records), recording amidst the trees at Gam Studio in the Belgian Ardennes and mixing at Hotel 2 Tango in Montréal. The album was mastered by James Plotkin and was released on the 14th of November 2022 by Berlin’s Morphine Records (Senyawa, Pierre Bastien) founded by Rabih Beaini.
Slumberland and Namtchylak have been invited to play at CTM festival, Le Guess Who?, Rewire festival, Sonic City festival and will be part of the line up of adventorous music festivals like NEXTfestival, Saint Ghetto festival and Alternative festival.
Tourdates
No upcoming shows
Tour History
Date | Band | Location | |
---|---|---|---|
26-08-2022 | SLUMBERLAND feat. Sainkho Namtchylak at Visual Sound Outdoor Festival | SLUMBERLAND | Dortmund, DE |
25-05-2022 | SLUMBERLAND feat. Sainkho Namtchylak at CTM Festival | SLUMBERLAND | Berlin, DE |
10-04-2022 | SLUMBERLAND feat. Sainkho Namtchylak at Rewire Festival | SLUMBERLAND | The Hague, NL |
18-02-2022 | Antenna Festival (Postponed – New date tbc) | SLUMBERLAND | Evergem, BE |
14-11-2021 | SLUMBERLAND feat. Sainkho Namtchylak at Sonic City | SLUMBERLAND | Kortrijk, BE |
13-11-2021 | SLUMBERLAND feat. Sainkho Namtchylak at Le Guess Who? | SLUMBERLAND | Utrecht, NL |
24-10-2021 | Arkaoda | SLUMBERLAND | Berlin, BE |
22-10-2021 | INSTRUMENTS (Solo) | SLUMBERLAND | Berlin, DE |
15-06-2021 | Artefact Sound | SLUMBERLAND | Leuven, BE |
13-06-2021 | SLUMBERLAND feat. Sainkho Namtchylak at St. Catharinakerk | SLUMBERLAND | Antwerpen |
Albums
Press
"...her vocals weaving the way between the hand built intruments. Stirring a pot that simmers on the brink of noise, threatening to boil over." THE WIRE on Lightkeeper
pressview
11-04-2023 |
★★★★ from HUMO for Slumberland feat. Sainkho Namtchylak live at BRDCST |
live |
27-03-2023 |
"A performance existing only of highlights..." LUMINOUS DASH on SLUMBERLAND (solo) |
live |
21-12-2022 |
'Lightkeeper' is one of BBC3's LATE JUNCTION's Albmums of 2022 |
album |
13-12-2022 |
THE WIRE premieres "Zarja Zakat Zarja" |
album |
10-12-2022 |
"Rollercoaster of Sounds" THE HIPODROME OF MUSIC (ROM) on 'Lightkeeper' |
album |
07-12-2022 |
"...her vocals weaving the way between the hand built intruments. Stirring a pot that simmers on the brink of noise, threatening to boil over." THE WIRE on Lightkeeper |
album |
01-12-2022 |
Slumberland feat. Sainkho Namtchylak in THE WIRE's weekly radio |
album |
08-11-2022 |
Interview witrh Slumberland & Sainkho Namtchylak in GONZO (CIRCUS) + COVER |
album |
16-11-2021 |
★★★½ from HUMO for Slumberland feat. Sainkho Namtchylak live at Sonic City Festival |
live |
06-03-2020 |
"Too bad for those who missed this trip." MAXAZINE on Slumberland live |
live |
25-11-2019 |
"This music will not leave you easily or in a hurry. Fight it and you will fail." BALTAZAR ROCK (UK) on Slumberland's performance at Monkey Week 2019 |
live |
05-08-2019 |
"More than exciting." ENOLA on Slumberland at AFF |
live |
04-08-2019 |
"Not just a concert, this became an experience..." LUMINOUSH DASH on Slumberland at AFF |
live |
29-07-2019 |
"This trio gave us every reason to be there again next time!" LUMINOUS DASH on Slumberland live in Ghent |
live |
09-07-2019 |
"When The Frozen Lake Starts To Sing" live for RED BULL MUSIC |
onair |
03-07-2019 |
Slumberland's in SIGNAAL/RUIS' Best of 2019 mid-year selection. |
onair |
25-04-2019 |
"A band to remember" LUMINOUS DASH on Slumberland's contribution to Sentimental's Mixtape #1 |
album |
08-02-2019 |
"Murky? Yes! Enjoyable? Even more so!" ECHOES & DUST on Slumberland's new album |
album |
06-02-2019 |
★★★★ from HUMO for "Sea, Sea, Sea Drifter // See, See, See Drifter" |
album |
06-02-2019 |
"From industrial blues-a-billy to mechanically mutated crooner songs, neck to neck over a tarmac where every now and then Swans run too" Knack Focus on "Sea, Sea, Sea Drifter / See, See, See Drifter". |
album |
05-02-2019 |
“Something visceral and otherworldly.” DROWNED IN SOUND (UK) on Slumberland live at Ment |
live |
05-02-2019 |
"The results sound like Nick Cave, Swans and the aforementioned LAIBACH with extra ambiance and polyrhythms in there for good measure" Clash Magazine (UK) on Slumberland live at MENT |
live |
05-02-2019 |
Interview with Jochem Baelus & Radwan Mounmeh in HET BOS magazine |
album |
04-02-2019 |
"Fascinating Album" GONZO on Slumberland's new album |
album |
01-02-2019 |
"I think it is safe to say this thing rocks" TONESHIFT on Sea, Sea, Sea Drifter... |
album |
21-12-2018 |
Spooky voices, hypnotic, an intriguing dark atmosphere & a bluesy edge... INDIESTYLE on "Rashomon" |
album |
26-11-2018 |
"The highlight of the festival." MAKE A FUZZ on Slumberland at Explore The North |
live |
15-04-2018 |
"Fascinating" LIVESTREAMMAGAZINE on Slumberland at Little Waves 2018 |
live |
08-04-2018 |
"A raw, murky thunderbolt, an utterly bewitching onslaught of restless rattles and drums with a hefty post-punk vibe…" INDIESTYLE on Slumberland live |
live |
12-02-2018 |
"A tribal party...to dance to forever" ARTNOIR on Slumberland live at OOAM 2018 |
live |
12-11-2017 |
"Slumberland embraces the experiment" GONZO |
album |
10-09-2017 |
Nico Kennes (Barely Autumsn) recommends Slumberland on LUMINOUS DASH |
live |
04-12-2016 |
"Beautiful to watch, heavenly to hear." HUMO on Slumberland live at Het Bos |
live |
15-07-2014 |
"Riveting, dark, cinematic, in other words, a sublime concert" GONZO on Slumberland live at Het Bos |
live |
12-03-2014 |
"A dark, industrial variant of Americana" GONZO |
album |
06-12-2013 |
"Here’s to the distinctive, bone-chilling growl and the dark, alternative, hypnotic sound |
album |