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Published on Monday, 25 January 2021 19:11
Belgian band Winterstille was founded by Xavier Kruth and Gerry Croon, who met as editors of Dark Entries, an online Dutch-language music magazine specialized in dark music. Since they both cherished gothic rock, darkwave, symphonic metal and similar, with a particular love for bands as Goethes Erben, Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble Of Shadows and especially Lacrimosa, and were both also musicians, it seems that the formation of the musical project was just the question of time.
Xavier has been playing his melancholic singer-songwriter songs in dark bars since 2006. He also played the guitar in The Marchesa Casati (gothic rock) and Kinderen van Moeder Aarde (shamanic folk), as well as he worked with Gert Kleinpunk (folky punk). Gerry on the other side heads Crooniek, an eight-headed concert band that he formed alongside his nephew Jan Croon in 2005, out of the Koninklijke Fanfare De Eendracht Kampenhout. Crooniek participated in various projects, in which it cooperated with MandolinMan, Illuminine, choirs and figured in operetta and television soaps.
An important project for
Crooniek was the debut album
Olivier & Crooniek with singer-songwriter Olivier Soil. Gerry wrote the orchestrations on the CD. Xavier was present on the CD-presentation, and after the concert, Gerry and Xavier talked about similar cooperation. And so the work began. Music sheets were written, rehearsals with the ensemble took place, a first show occurred and at the end of 2019, the whole band - altogether 10 musicians - went to Studio Trad, Erpe-Mere, to record the results of their hard work.
The debut album
Puin van Dromen (Rubble Of Dreams) was released in November 2020 via the label Wool-E Discs. The album contains ten unique songs, sang in four languages (most of them in Dutch, but also English, French and German). The style lingers from dark folk/chanson to gothic/fanfare rock. Two of
Winterstille's songs "Drink nog een glas" and "Boze wolven" were also released in video form, and the goth song "Und sie tanzten", a homage to
Lacrimosa, will have its clip within a few weeks. "
Winterstille is the result of a meeting between two like-minded music fanatics", as Xavier and Gerry put it down. It is Winter, and it is silent... why not light a fireplace, pour yourself (another) glass of wine or something, and enjoy listening to Winterstille. This Thursday on [Dark] UNKNOWN.
Musicians:
Xavier Kruth: vocals & acoustic guitar
Gerry Croon: cornet
Otli Penninckx: bugle
Maxime Van Bellinghen: alto saxophone
Jan Croon: euphonium
Jean Van Dam: baritone saxophone
Annelies Callewaert: carillon, xylophone & flute
Wim De Bie: drums & chimes
Kevin Imbrechts: electric guitar
Kristof 'Bones' Bonnarens: bass guitar
Compositions:
Music and Lyrics: Xavier Kruth
except "Und sie tanzten": music: Gerry Croon
Winterstille links:
Official website,
Facebook,
Bandcamp
Winterstille's music will be presented in the radio show [Dark] UNKNOWN this Thursday, 28 January at 22.00 (CET) on Terra Relicta Radio.
Edited by Jerneja
