FDH – Novaela

Last year FDH made a good impression on me with the album “Disseminare”, released as a limited cd-r on Cynfeirdd in their Eye for Eye-series. Now Frank den Haan is back with a new, second album, self-released on cd-r. It’s typical such an album which pleases me from the start. Again it’s a mixture of neo-classical, ambient, post-rock and experimental sounds, but this time more melodic with ‘pop’ sensibilities.

The seven long instrumental tracks are restrained and concentrated, with subtle electronic sounds, minimal piano and sparse percussion. The elegant piano melodies are nicely combined with manipulated and distorted crunchy sounds, which give the music the necessary tension. A good example is the title track, where the soft classical element meets harsher sounds and a deep bass, like light meeting dark. The music on “Novaela” is pregnant with emotion, for instance on the minimal ‘Low Heat Nation’, which feels very sad and isolated.

In general the music is accessible and easy to enjoy, with ‘Staleandpale’ as an exception, which is more experimental and dark and more difficult to permeate. An excellent follow-up for FDH, who also recorded a split album with As All Die, which will be released in May.

artist: FDH
label: self-released
details: cd-r, 7 tracks, 2005