LINDE
Circadian is (bass)flautist/singer/composer Maaike van der Linde’s debut album. After many years of playing music composed by others, she started her project LINDE in which she explores her own creative voice using (bass)flute, vocals, a small Philicorda organ and field recordings.
During a visit to her friend Conor O’Brien in Ireland, a spontaneous creative process took off in the studio in his house in the countryside. Conor started producing the album and a long lasting creative collaboration started. Over a period of two years Maaike travelled back and forth between Amsterdam and Dublin to work on her album while simultaneously contributing to Conor’s album ‘The Art of Pretending to Swim’ for his band Villagers.
Maaike has a special love for the church organ: being raised in a religious family she went twice a week to church as a child so singing with the organ formed the basis of her musical development. To Maaike, the organ is a huge collection of flutes from very low to high, operated mechanically in contrast to the flute operated by her breath. Besides this, she is fascinated by, (and a bit jealous of), the fact that it’s possible to play chords on the organ - something she always missed as a flautist.
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Maaike had previously collaborated with London based organ player James McVinnie so invited him to join her and Conor to do a residency in the Magnus church in Anloo in Drenthe: the area where Maaike grew up. During the residency, they got to experiment, improvise and record organ parts for Maaike’s songs on the Garrels-Radeker organ from 1717.
In contrast to the biggest instrument- the church organ- a tiny musician also plays a big role on the album: the fruit fly (drosophila melanogaster). During her studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, Maaike undertook an acoustic research project focussing on the love songs that fruit flies sing. For this, she collaborated with professor Joerg Albert at University College London, where they recorded different species of fruit flies singing different songs. Maaike used the lab recordings of the fruit flies on her album: sometimes hidden, as percussive sounds and sometimes more exposed and un-edited (in duo for Moog and Fruit Fly).
During recording sessions at her own home studio in Amsterdam, Maaike invited some of her closest musical friends to play on her album and their creative input meant a lot to her. Romain Bly gave groove to her music, Shelley Sörensen and Alistair Sung contributed with lush string sounds and a heart breaking solo. Saied Silbak made the song ‘Oblivion’ come to life with his Oud.
During the final stages of creating the album, Maaike went to Hudson in Upstate New York where she spent 4 days in the National’s Long Pond studio mixing the album with Jonathan Low.
credits
released May 16, 2022
All songs composed by Maaike van der Linde, produced by Conor O’Brien
Recorded by Maaike van der Linde, Conor O’Brien and James McVinnie at home in Amsterdam, at Pleasant Studios in Dublin and in the Magnuskerk in Anloo (NL). Drums recorded by Sam Jones at Epic Rainbow Unicorn Studio in Utrecht. Fruit flies recorded by Joerg Albert in the UCL Ear Institute in London.
Mixed at The National’s Long Pond studio in Upstate New York by Jonathan Low. Mastered by Alex Geurink. Artwork by Anne Caesar.
Maaike van der Linde: vocals, flutes
Conor O’Brien: vocals, electronics
James McVinnie: church organ
Saied Silbak: ud
Alistair Sung: cello
Shelley Sörensen : viola
Romain Bly: drums