Kintsugi Empire – Shun
Sound Of Niche / Lay Bare Recordings – 2024
Rock, Alternative
Rated: *****
Opening with these twenty seconds of this intense and rising feeling that might remind you of something like For Your Love by the Yardbirds, that first track The Preacher on debut album Shun immediately sets the scene for Kintsugi Empire! It’s the new project for Pieter Holkenborg, the dude you might know from bands and projects like Automatic Sam, Shaking Godspeed, Woost, Atlanta, Ten East, Tatabánya, Hilltop Howlers and Geishas Of Doom. Indeed, the man is prolific and diverse in his musical output. And for his new project Kintsugi Empire’s debut album Shun he did everything himself. Or at least all the instruments and the vocals. Cause the recording and mixing was overseen by Sebastiaan van Bijlevelt and the mastering by Pieter Kloos. And well, it does feature two guest spots. From none other than vocalist Rudeboy, from Urban Dance Squad and Junkie XL. And on pedal steel guitar Johan Jansen from Ilse DeLange’s band and Derek Trucks. But let’s go back to that opening track The Preacher, and how it evolves from that riveting throwback opening, to a crash course in perpetual motion, stationary yet buzzing with electricity, like watching it all zip around like lightning in a bottle. Following Into Nothing has a lot of that energy, but shifts gear constantly, moving forward at different speeds. Becoming wilder and more chaotic as the track progresses, turning Into Nothing into three highly volatile minutes that instead of exploding turn inwards as the we near its end. Note To Self are seven minutes that traverse through a more indie rock landscape, before around the halfway mark noisily fading out and turning into an experiment in sounds and noises and then coming back again with a punch and a full bodied organic freak out, climaxing as a freeze out. Charlatans follows, where Rudeboy shines together with Holkenborg. (Funny, never even thought about till now, is Junkie XL’s Tom Holkenborg family Pieter?) And hearing Rudeboy’s voice again is so thrilling. I loved his work with Urban Dance Squad but also The League Of XO Gentlemen, The Cold Vein and Battles of 1977. And Charlatans, with the slow subdued build up, has everything to make his characteristic voice shine, for there is something definitely militaristic about the riffs and rhythm. That marching beat, that heralding of earthly rumble. And then when the sound breaks through, warbling and wavey, Rudeboy gets to use his poetry for internal widening, turning it as much into prophecy as the momentary realization that every outsider in the end might finish as a saint. And as you continue along the Shun story line you feel the album becomes increasingly more like a classic study of alienation, creativity and the outsider mind. Which is even more logical when you know this album began its life during the pandemic. And therefore, listening to a Ghost Of A Ghost becomes even more heavy, emotional and intense. A whisper and a whimper that makes you shiver as much at the guitar that slowly creeps up your spine. There is no shortage of beauty on this album. Sometimes tragic or forlorn, but the beauty of Shun is always bruised, battered and broken. Cracks and scars, varnished with a tiny layer of gold…
Ps. To perform this beauty on stage, at Sonic Whip Festival for instance, he will be joined by Daan Wopereis (Geishas Of Doom/Temple Fang) on drums and Sebas van Olst (ATLANTA/Typhoon) on bass. And because they know this kind of splendor deserves something special, the album will be packaged with a riso print Obi strip designed by graphic designer and visual artist Jop Luberti and an eight pages lyric booklet with analogue photos from the talented Maaike Ronhaar.
(Written by JK)
Bandcamp
Pieter Holkenborg Bandcamp
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