Dirk Serries, well-known from his Ambient Music project Vidna Obmana, informed us about a forthcoming live performance: “On September 12, 2020, during a very warm initiative by JAZZBLAZZT, I played a welcome ambient concert between the two lockdowns. Almost two years later, thanks again to JAZZBLAZZT we are doing this again, but this time we will make a unique concert by DIRK SERRIES & TRÖSTA with STRATOSPHERE as support, and this will take place on Saturday September 17, 2022 in the same empty warehouse in Strampoy (Netherlands). A ticket costs 20 EUR (including drinks) per person. If you are interested, book quickly because the seats are limited.”
More info: bandcamp page of Dirk Serries.
The following article on the change of focus of Dirk Serries was written by Gert Derkx, also known as Opduvel.
With the double CD/LP Epitaph, guitarist Dirk Serries said goodbye to ambient and drone in 2018, at least as a solo artist. His importance as an ambient/drone artist cannot be overstated. Already in the eighties he was active under the name Vidna Obmana, later he worked under the name Fear Falls Burning and again later there was the project Microphonics. Serries can be seen as a pioneer in the genre, someone who started to use the guitar as the main instrument in a world dominated by synthesizers and who has always kept his own course.
But the guitarist is also someone who wants to change his own course, looking for new challenges. There are clear differences between the different ambient/drone projects, and after Serries was introduced to free improvisation at Yodok III, he developed into a guitarist who focuses on that genre, solo and in collaboration with others. The perfectionist who created his soundscapes with great precision turned into a free-thinking and playing musician, opening new musical avenues.
For those following Serries as an ambient/drone artist, the cover was a tougher hurdle to overcome. The guitarist had to tap into a new audience, which he succeeded, although that audience is smaller in number than his old audience. That is also apparent tonight, when Serries plays an ambient/drone set one more time on request. This is happening in Stramproy, Limburg, in the context of JazzBlazzt, which has once again found a creative solution to comply with the corona measures. The concert takes place in a spacious shed and the audience is limited to forty. The performance sells out effortlessly.
The concert was supposed to take place in May this year, but then corona threw a spanner in the works. During the lockdown, Serries still gave an ambient concert online, but nothing beats the real live experience. Just a few lights behind Serries provide sparse lighting and the guitarist’s music thrives in the dark. With your eyes closed you can completely immerse yourself in the long sounds, let yourself be carried away by the sound layers that the man from Belgium accurately lays.
The one and a half hour set that Serries plays tonight comes closest to Epitaph in style. He makes music with concentration and patience and subtly combines his sounds, in the first part even without the striking of the strings being even slightly audible. Serries shows himself to be a master of dosing and his penchant for minimalism also comes to the fore. Not a note is played too much and no layer is applied too much. No noise, no massive drones: transparency and an enormous emotional charge are what it’s all about tonight.
One thing has not changed at Serries in his development as a musician: sound research. In his nervous drive as a free improv guitarist, in his minimal music project Tonus, and in the musical painting of sound landscapes, the Belgian is busy discovering new sounds, finding new possibilities to achieve a satisfying result. . Tonight we see Serries working with familiar tools such as the e-bow and the bow, but he also plays his instrument with a plastic ruler, in order to elicit a new sound from the guitar.
Serries evokes a melancholy emotion with his guitar drones, in various shapes and degrees. He does not let his drones swell to great proportions, but a restrained tension remains in the sounds so that the attention does not wane. The stratification increases and decreases, sometimes playing whisper softly, forcing the guitarist to listen attentively. Serries’ soundscapes do not give the opportunity to dream away, but to experience the sound splendor that is created on the spot.
Some darker tones come through in the second part, but that also keeps Serries within limits. Using only guitar and effects, Serries forges emotive and glorious musical landscapes that cannot leave the listener unmoved. The sound is perfectly balanced, something to which the surprisingly good acoustics of the warehouse contribute. The audience listens silently, captivated by the wonderful play with sound. At the end Serries impresses with an elongated diminuendo. It is a fitting end to a memorable and at times even moving concert.