The Winter Wind, by Chuck van Zyl

The Winter Wind

by Chuck van Zyl

supported by

Michael Valant Great music, typical brilliant work by Chuck. Love the spacey overtones, sequencers, and mellotron sounds. Way to go Chuck, keep the great music coming!!!!! Favorite track: On the Swift Howlings of the Winter Wind.

Bo Stern Holy mother this is a beautiful and wonderful album... love it!!!! ❤️

eugene51 Beautifully created sounds by Chuck. Always magical, often mournful, but wonderful. Favorite track: On the Swift Howlings of the Winter Wind.

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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Limited edition of 285 LPs on translucent black vinyl with white and silver splatter. Also includes a conventional silver CD packaged in a 2-panel printed sleeve.

Includes unlimited streaming of The Winter Wind via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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	1.	In the Dull Soft Skies of Coming Snow 20:50	info
	2.	On the Swift Howlings of the Winter Wind 20:31	info

about

An artist of independent mind, Chuck van Zyl has sighted common goals with industry8, which has now released "The Winter Wind" (41:22) - the first vinyl LP project for both artist and label. Leaning into Spacemusic's expressive potential, Chuck van Zyl directs our attention inwardly - where it expands. Across two side-long aural odes to wind, frost, snowflakes and ice he generates meaning from an array of analogue and digital studio devices and instruments. Referencing classics of the Berlin-School, sounds and energy arise, combine, change and melt away - gradually, as all things sub-zero must.

Side A's "In the Dull Soft Skies of Coming Snow" (20:50) conjures ice, frost and snow, as well as a sense of scale. Navigating between tundral gloom and arctic brilliance the sequencer notes tumble one over another in echoing syncopation. The motoring pulse expands and contracts beneath lilting lead lines and gelid chords. Synthesized strings freeze and thaw, while silvery strains hold fast to the heart. This lovely electronic wandering sonifies the bold proportions of the wintertime, and electrifies us in its chilled charm. It seems for a season yet to come - further ahead than our own, but not too far removed.

The hibernal texture of Side B's "On the Swift Howlings of the Winter
Wind" (20:32) are bright, crisp and clear, producing the feel of the confidently cold. As crystalline tones tinkle and twinkle under hovering reverberation, a slow storm forms a quiet force. Snowflakes chase along ten banks of sequencers - returning a vision as fresh as the new fallen snow. This magical boreal region of shining auroras and starlit melodies freezes time by inundating the mind with thought. Searching and contemplative, then striding into the deep, it achieves a satisfying, consistent level of creativity beyond the cold logic of the machines used to create it.

Whether describing the bareness of a vast tundral landscape or the complexity of an individual snowflake - "The Winter Wind" offers unique insight into our realm through the infinite perspectives of music. Finding our way into this work should be a familiar adventure. It has been made for a particular kind of listener - determined to collect unique feelings and enjoy each span of sonic spirit while it lasts. Chuck van Zyl believes that this kind of music has the potential to contain the world, and asks only that we please listen to his album, and the world, together.

credits

released May 8, 2022

Music Recorded, Produced & Mastered by Chuck van Zyl ©2021
Cover Photos by Chuck van Zyl
Graphic Layout by Michael Gibson

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about

Chuck van Zyl Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Chuck van Zyl has been at his own unique style of electronic music since 1983. His musical sensibilities evoke a sense of discovery, with each endeavor marking a new frontier of sound.

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discography

Gwynedd

Sep 2023
Passages

Aug 2023
Live on Star's End 2021-2022

Mar 2023
Skyspace

Aug 2022
The Winter Wind

May 2022
Votive

Dec 2021
Live on Star's End 10.06.19

Feb 2020
The Relic

Mar 2018
Star's End

Jul 2017
Celestial Mechanics

Jun 2017
The Xyl File

Jan 2017
MemorySpace

Nov 2010

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Chuck van Zyl recommends:

The Gatherings 21 April 2018
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Anyone in love with Spacemusic and its very specific poetry will want to hear this concert Chuck van Zyl
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The Gatherings 9 December 2021
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The Rotunda 4 December 2021
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"Against the Fall of Night" was played live in the moment before a limited, enthusiastic, informed audience. Proceeds benefit The Rotunda in Philadelphia Chuck van Zyl
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