Though Grimbergen is named after a delicious brand of Belgian beer, it is actually a Scottish project. From Edinburgh, to be more precise, as you can see from the characteristic rocks on the cover. Grimbergen is a one man project, Nathan Clemence has created all the music on this cdr with a synthesizer (a Yamaha SY 77, if you’re interested). That same Nathan is also involved in a dancenight in Edinburgh called Finsternis, which has fine playlists. That good taste is also reflected in the music on “Shame and regret”, a self-released 5-track cdr and the debut for Grimbergen. Though Nathan is very modest in the biography of his project, he certainly doesn’t need to be ashamed of anything.
The listener is treated to over three quarters of an hour of melodic electronic music, which is quite pleasant to listen to. The music is not too complex, but effective. I find it quite hard to put a label with the genre on it, which is a compliment I think. At times I had the feeling ‘this reminds me of something’, but I couldn’t really recall actual names. The music of Grimbergen is not tranquil enough to be called ambient, but it isn’t exactly dance music either. The percussion gives the songs dynamics (especially in the highlight ‘Negative Tension’), while the classical influences give a certain flow to the compositions. The overall mood of Grimbergen is not really dark, but rather melancholic, a bit somber at times. A few passages sound quite threatening, building up the tension, especially in the nice fourth track ‘Drainage’. The strongest point of thids cd is the large amount of atmosphere that it manages to create. This is not music that directly blows you away, but is more suited to appreciate calmly, perhaps while sipping from a large cool glass of Grimbergen. It will be interesting to follow how this act will develop…
