SLUMBERLAND

SLUMBERLAND

Slumberland embraces the experiment.

The band led by sound artist Jochem Baelus deploys an arsenal of home-made mechanical instruments unleashes a hypnotic krautrock/post punk sound with echoes of distorted exotica, long-lost soundtracks and boozy rock & roll greats.

 

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Since 2013, Jochem Baelus has been besieging the music scene with his re-engineered sewing machines and film projectors.

With its obscure, veiled songs, his self-titled debut album in 2013 on the experimental Dutch label 'De Zesde Kolonne' made an impression for its Lynchian atmosphere, prior to which he had already gained a reputation with bands including Echo Beatty.

It didn't go unnoticed by bands such as Tindersticks and King Dude, with whom he would later share the stage.

After several tours in Germany, Eastern Europe and Switzerland, a 'live' tape was released with collaborations from the 'Psychfest' festival Eindhoven and he was invited to take part in the compilation album 'I said no doctors' alongside the likes of Silver Apples and Dan Deacon, on the American label 'Dymaxion groove records'.

After numerous solo shows, in 2018, he decided to expand his band to a trio which Baelus immediately recorded a new full album with.

For Slumberland's second full album 'Sea, sea, sea, drifter / See, see, see, drifter' (Consouling Sounds), Slumberland crossed the Atlantic, making landfall in Montreal to work with engineer/producer Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, amongst many others known from 'Jerusalem in my heart'. As the unofficial sound guru for the Canadian label 'Constellation', he is right at home with the cinematic portraits and tribal realms of Slumberland.

With his help, the album was recorded in a former refrigeration unit amidst the colourful Dutch tulip fields of Voorhout. Though there’s little evidence of this cheerful decor.

The album was mixed at studio Hotel2tango, Montreal (known for Godspeed You! Black Emperor, among others...) and sounds murkier, rawer and more explosive than its processor. The songs unfold in a constant friction between tactile textures and spare melodies, with the inky voice of Baelus increasingly at the forefront in the role of master of ceremonies.

After Alfredo Bravo (Flying Horseman) left the band in 2019, now the two drummers Erik Heestermans (Steve Gunn) and Frederik Meulyzer (Stray Dogs) provide an organic, visceral counterweight to all that mechanical noise.

In this configuration, the band has made a name for itself as an intense live experience, entrancing audiences in a collective, repetitive, timeless ritual. Or, in the words of HUMO magazine: ‘Beautiful to watch, heavenly to hear’.

In 2020 Jochem Baelus set out to investigate how he could use his expertise to go into  dialogue with other cultures through his sound sculptures. His fascination for the use of the human voice as a means of communication within certain communities soon led him to 63-year-old avant-garde, voice artist Sainkho Namtchylak.

Namtchylak grew up in Tuva, an autonomous republic in Russia north of Mongolia. She is known as one of the first recognised female 'overtone artists', a privilege usually reserved for the male part of the population. She studied in Moscow and combined this with shamanistic Siberian chants, jazz, avant-garde music and worked with various musicians, from Evan Parker to
to Tinariwen. In June 2020 Jochem visited Namtchylak in Vienna where it soon became clear that their collaboration was full of potential. An encounter between 2 worlds, from which the interaction between the material and the immaterial, new music and audiovisual forms are distilled.

For their collaboration on Slumberland's third upcoming full album Lightkeeper Baelus worked with the Canadien/Lebanese sound engineer Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem In My Heart, Constellation Records), recording amidst the trees at Gam Studio in the Belgian Ardennes and mixing at Hotel 2 Tango in Montréal. The album was mastered by James Plotkin and was released on the 14th of November 2022 by Berlin’s Morphine Records (Senyawa, Pierre Bastien) founded by Rabih Beaini.

Slumberland and Namtchylak have been invited to play at CTM festival, ​Le Guess Who?, Rewire festival, Sonic City festival and will be part of the line up of adventorous music festivals like NEXTfestival, Saint Ghetto festival ​and Alternative festival.

Tourdates

No upcoming shows

Tour History

Date Band Location
17-11-2022 Saint Ghetto SLUMBERLAND Bern, CH
11-11-2022 Mind Your Head (SOLO) SLUMBERLAND Mechelen, BE
01-10-2022 NEXT Festival SLUMBERLAND Bratislava, SK
27-08-2022 Platzhirsch Festival SLUMBERLAND Duisburg, DE
26-08-2022 Visual Sound Outdoor Festival SLUMBERLAND Dortmund, DE
25-05-2022 CTM Festival (feat. Sainkho Namtchylak) SLUMBERLAND Berlin, DE
10-04-2022 Rewire Festival (feat. Sainkho Namtchylmak) SLUMBERLAND The Hague, NL
18-02-2022 Antenna Festival (Postponed – New date tbc) SLUMBERLAND Evergem, BE
14-11-2021 Sonic City SLUMBERLAND Kortrijk, BE
13-11-2021 Le Guess Who? SLUMBERLAND Utrecht, NL

Press

11-04-2023

★★★★ from HUMO for Slumberland feat. Sainkho Namtchylak live at BRDCST

07-12-2022

"...her vocals weaving the way between the hand built intruments. Stirring a pot that simmers on the brink of noise, threatening to boil over." THE WIRE on Lightkeeper

08-11-2022

Interview witrh Slumberland & Sainkho Namtchylak in GONZO (CIRCUS) + COVER

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pressview

11-04-2023

★★★★ from HUMO for Slumberland feat. Sainkho Namtchylak live at BRDCST

live
27-03-2023

"A performance existing only of highlights..." LUMINOUS DASH on SLUMBERLAND (solo) 

live
21-12-2022

'Lightkeeper' is one of BBC3's LATE JUNCTION's Albmums of 2022

album
13-12-2022

THE WIRE premieres "Zarja Zakat Zarja"

album
10-12-2022

"Rollercoaster of Sounds" THE HIPODROME OF MUSIC (ROM) on 'Lightkeeper'

album
07-12-2022

"...her vocals weaving the way between the hand built intruments. Stirring a pot that simmers on the brink of noise, threatening to boil over." THE WIRE on Lightkeeper

album
01-12-2022

Slumberland feat. Sainkho Namtchylak in THE WIRE's weekly radio

album
08-11-2022

Interview witrh Slumberland & Sainkho Namtchylak in GONZO (CIRCUS) + COVER

album
16-11-2021

★★★½ from HUMO for Slumberland feat. Sainkho Namtchylak live at Sonic City Festival

live
06-03-2020

"Too bad for those who missed this trip." MAXAZINE on Slumberland live

live
25-11-2019

"This music will not leave you easily or in a hurry. Fight it and you will fail."  BALTAZAR ROCK (UK) on Slumberland's performance at Monkey Week 2019

live
05-08-2019

"More than exciting." ENOLA on Slumberland at AFF

live
04-08-2019

"Not just a concert, this became an experience..." LUMINOUSH DASH on Slumberland at AFF

live
29-07-2019

"This trio gave us every reason to be there again next time!" LUMINOUS DASH on Slumberland live in Ghent

live
09-07-2019

"When The Frozen Lake Starts To Sing" live for RED BULL MUSIC

onair
03-07-2019

Slumberland's in SIGNAAL/RUIS' Best of 2019 mid-year selection.

onair
25-04-2019

"A band to remember" LUMINOUS DASH on Slumberland's contribution to Sentimental's Mixtape #1

album
08-02-2019

"Murky? Yes! Enjoyable? Even more so!" ECHOES & DUST on Slumberland's new album

album
06-02-2019

★★★★ from HUMO for "Sea, Sea, Sea Drifter // See, See, See Drifter"

album
06-02-2019

"From industrial blues-a-billy to mechanically mutated crooner songs, neck to neck over a tarmac where every now and then Swans run too" Knack Focus on "Sea, Sea, Sea Drifter / See, See, See Drifter".

album
05-02-2019

“Something visceral and otherworldly.” DROWNED IN SOUND (UK) on Slumberland live at Ment

live
05-02-2019

"The results sound like Nick Cave, Swans and the aforementioned LAIBACH with extra ambiance and polyrhythms in there for good measure" Clash Magazine (UK) on Slumberland live at MENT

live
05-02-2019

Interview with Jochem Baelus & Radwan Mounmeh in HET BOS magazine

album
04-02-2019

"Fascinating Album" GONZO on Slumberland's new album

album
01-02-2019

"I think it is safe to say this thing rocks" TONESHIFT on Sea, Sea, Sea Drifter...

album
21-12-2018

Spooky voices, hypnotic, an intriguing dark atmosphere & a bluesy edge... INDIESTYLE on "Rashomon"

album
26-11-2018

"The highlight of the festival." MAKE A FUZZ on Slumberland at Explore The North

live
15-04-2018

"Fascinating" LIVESTREAMMAGAZINE on Slumberland at Little Waves 2018

live
08-04-2018

"A raw, murky thunderbolt, an utterly bewitching onslaught of restless rattles and drums with a hefty post-punk vibe…" INDIESTYLE on Slumberland live

live
12-02-2018

"A tribal party...to dance to forever" ARTNOIR on Slumberland live at OOAM 2018

live
12-11-2017

"Slumberland embraces the experiment" GONZO

album
10-09-2017

Nico Kennes (Barely Autumsn) recommends Slumberland on LUMINOUS DASH

live
04-12-2016

"Beautiful to watch, heavenly to hear." HUMO on Slumberland live at Het Bos

live
15-07-2014

"Riveting, dark, cinematic, in other words, a sublime concert" GONZO on Slumberland live at Het Bos

live
12-03-2014

"A dark, industrial variant of Americana" GONZO

album
06-12-2013

"Here’s to the distinctive, bone-chilling growl and the dark, alternative, hypnotic sound
of Slumberland" RIFRAF

album
Video 

Slumberland & Sainkho Namtchylak “Zarja Zakat Zarja”

SLUMBERLAND with SAINKHO NAMTCHYLAK

Slumberland - When The Frozen Lake Starts To Sing

Slumberland - When The Frozen Lake Starts To Sing (Red Bull Music Session)

RASHOMON by SLUMBERLAND

SLUMBERLAND live session

SLUMBERLAND - MONTAGNARD

"Free Dive" by Slumberland (Excerpt live at OOAM)

Slumberland - Live at Mind Your Head

SLUMBERLAND - Live at De Koer

SLUMBERLAND - no man's land

Slumberland - Hunting, Hunting

SLUMBERLAND LIVE ON ICARUS.FM

SLUMBERLAND - LIVE AT PSYCH LAB 2016

SLUMBERLAND - TIGHTROPE WALKER

SLUMBERLAND - HUNTING HUNTING (LIVE)

Photos