TRESPASSERS W
THE EX-YU SINGLE (7″)
Line-up:
Cor Gout: vocals
Saskia Leenes: backing vocals
Ronnie Krepel: banjo, guitars, bass, drums, organ
Lukas Simonis: mandolin
Frans Friederich: trumpet, flugelhorn
Margriet Buitenhuis: trumpet
Produced, engineered, mixed by Ronnie Krepel, Cor Gout and Camille Dings.
Sleeve and label design: Ronnie Krepel and Hajo Doorn (Hißtoorisch Delfschghaefven), Buro Artmusement, Rotterdam.
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Reviews in English: 2___________________________________________________________________________
CHAOTIC CRITIQUES, Mini Zine, Canada, August 1999:
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/3031/index.html
TRESPASSERS W – The Ex-Yu Single 7″
(Javastraat 27a, 2585 AC Den Haag, Netherlands)
TW is the epitome of strangeness, an unstoppable colossus of weird ideas inserted into experimental songwriting structures with oddness the ultimate goal. Stuck somewhere between folk an alerna-rock with a bit of a 40s silent film soundtrack vibe tossed in , TW is compellingly uncategorizable, an anomaly beyond description. « Save the Dormouse » and « Sleepy Dormouse » are both strange, hauting ticklers of consciousness, with vocals that verge on spoken word without neglecting harmony, thought-provoking lyrics (both songs are about the former Yugoslavia), and a mix of experimental and traditional musical elements that will send your head spinning in elliptical orbits.
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MOLOKO PLUS, label newsletter:
« Once upon a time there were three little sisters, called Elsie, Lacie and Tilly and they lived at the bottom of a well. It was a treacle well. They were learning to draw all manner of things, everything that begins with an M such as mousetraps and the moon and muchness… »
« Save the Dormouse » – THE EX-YU single – a bizarre couple of songs. For the lyrics Cor Gout – mastermind, singer and poet of the Trespassers W – wanted 3 elements combined:
1 – the Dormouse, being ‘molested’ by the March Hare and the Mad Hatter in Lewis Carrolls « Alice in Wonderland » and threatened in its existence in real life, because in his struggle for food (and he needs lots of that before he starts his 7 month winter sleep!) the grey mouse and the red squirrel get the better of him in a natural environment which gets scarcer in its supplies all the time.
2 – the situation in Ex-Yugoslavia.
3 – Shakespeare’s often misunderstood of half-understood sentence « to be or not to be, that’s the question (from « Hamlet »).
Not for rational reasons Cor Gout wanted these elements in the songs but only because they were present in his brain at the same time. Maybe they happened to be there, because he WANTS so much for the dormouse and for ex-Yu, while he CAN do so little. To act aimlessly or to sleep deedlessly, that’s the question.
The music for the dormouse-song an the A-side was composed by Ronnie Krepel. Cor Gout invented the vocal style and slight melodies. Saskia did some backing vocals and Lukas Simonis did a very nice mandolin bit, while Frans Friedrich and his girlfriend Margriet Buitenhuis provided the trumpet pieces. The dormouse-collage on the B-Side was mostly improvised. The piano-bit was fixed, ready on tape, but all the sounds and samples were invented and made during the Via Ritmo session in Rotterdam, a sound-mis-show featuring Frans Friederich, assisted by Ronnie and producer Camille Dings.
(PLUS 011 / MEGAPHON 200110)