HEARTSOUNDS & MURMURS

Please not relax your attention for touching, listening to this obscurity. A Dutch (one-off) avantgarde jazz rick project NIEW HIP STILEN have disappeared soon after releasing a wondrous hearty wing under the blue sky titled "Heartsounds & Murmurs" in 1985. Based upon complicated jazz-oriented melodic components, every percussive electronic synthesizer / keyboard tremor might be one of their products that was reflected via Electronic Movement in mid 1980s I guess. Quite curious for me what is avantgarde jazz rock in collaboration with electrinika, and it was quite amazing indeed.

Suitable to call their electronic creation is percussive and psychedelic, not danceable nor pop at all. Rutger's flexible, human heartwarming (really) saxophone play completely sticks to the rhythm section "percussively". The combination of saxophones and synthesizers should be thought as the main dish in this album, let me say. Rutger's flexibility for managing saxophone can be heard via the sound texture, that sometimes sounds eccentric, sometimes sensual, sometimes primeval, and sometimes novel. Maarten's inorganic whispering voices are funky spice for the production. And the rhythm section including percussive synthesizer punches is pretty precise and strict, never beaten by other instruments.

Fine for the audience to shout what a decent combo for avantgarde progressive rock subgenre (or jazz rock / fusion label). It's really a pity we cannot listen to their creation anymore but "Heartsounds & Murmurs" ... yes, this album would give us heartwarming heart sounds but murmurs ... that is, comfort.