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Douwe Eisenga: Poetry of a City
by James Fleming
Poetry of a City begins with the gentle, rolling arpeggios of “Have I Not Tried." Douwe Eisenga's triplets stretch the tension in the chord out across the beat. The melody is played in double stops to add weight to the rhythm's swing. A violin enters, far below the piano, drawing out long, mournful notes. The chord progression loops back on itself, ushering in the jagged syncopation of the strings and the hard slamming of the percussion. This is one of ...
read moreDouwe Eisenga: The Border
by James Fleming
The brass section on The Border's opening track, “At The Coast," tolls like a foghorn through its two-note riff, pauses, then returns, pierced this time by a synthesizer's shimmering. Douwe Eisenga's piano does not make an appearance until the second track, “Encounter." He rolls through an arpeggio, changing just one note every bar to transform the voice of the chord, as the music moves from piano to forte, a bass drum pulses, and the saxophone glides a long, flowing melody ...
read moreDouwe Eisenga: Open
by James Fleming
Douwe Eisenga's riffs cycle around slight, subtle variations, echoing through the space of the studio. His right hand on “Left Out I," the opening piece, explores the possibilities his left hand opens up for it: two riffs on the left; chiming melodies on the right. “Bruno" feels like it has always been here, moving along a chord progression which waltzes upwards through the ascension's anticipation, then drops back to the starting riff, teasing the listener deeper into the arpeggios' rolls ...
read moreDouwe Eisenga: For Mattia
by James Fleming
The music on Douwe Eisenga's For Mattia flows like a ballet dancer's movements. Its nine songs, all solo piano compositions, glitter with a lyricism many vocalists cannot manage. As if Eisenga is playing with light as well as melody. Weaving the two about each other like threads of sound and aether. This is a record of deep sadness. Mattia, of the title track, was a young woman who committed suicide. Her parents commissioned Eisenga to write this piece--a ...
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