Scott McKeating Visits Driebergen-Zeist

Tex La Homa "Driebergen Zeist" CD-r
Sonic Oyster

While “Driebergen Zeist” might be named after a place in the Netherlands, the record itself doesn’t so much offer a sense of place – as a sense of senses. This record is a diary of a journey captured in sound, taste and sight, and a release that delivers these ideas through audio. Commencing with the sound footsteps through snow, Tex La Homa (aka Matthew Shaw) reveals a kind of European air across the record. Or maybe more specifically there’s a Gallic tone here, created by the affectionate tones of an accordion. The instrument is lightly buttered and coaxed in reverb, moving the tones of the accordion out of the ordinary into the hinterland of memory or into the peripheral. There are trails of less easily identifiable sound too, snaking tones and the waft of chimes that colour the record - the music here moves with a charming insouciant swoon along its hazy course. Unlike many other artists who incorporate field recordings into their records, the sources here don’t jar the listener back to reality – they’re stitched into the fabric of this new other reality that Tex La Homa have created. And that’s one this record’s main feats; it feels much more like a creation than a construction. “Driebergen Zeist” ends as it began, with the crunching of snow underfoot. Take a trip… 9/10 -- Scott McKeating (3 March, 2010)