Joachim Stiller - In Shallow Water

Remnants of the soundtrack from a cancelled videogame and a shelved space-jazz album collide and reform as a 45 minute ambient-synth opera about the many states of water and what lays within. The original tracks, recorded 2021–22, never left the demo stage until late 2023 / early 2024, when they were reworked and (re-)mixed to become a more cohesive collection of tracks. Though the original tracks were inspired by Nintendo DS-games (‘Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, ‘Another Code: Two Memories’, etc.) and Anime (Cowboy Bebop), the 2024 reworks see them becoming something else entirely. Themes of liquid arose from the only vocal track on this work, ‘A Glistening Shadow’, which follows the story of a man that comes in contact with a creature(s) both of light and darkness, at the seaside - Whom offer the man a glimpse into the insides of a sea urchin (which he refuses). Using this track as an anchor for the rest of the tracks, the reworks became more wet and mystical with every passing day. The track titles are appetizers, giving a base mood for every piece, that on occasion feature some kind of insight to the life of Joachim Stiller - often autobiographical in nature. Joachim Stiller is one of many monikers used by visual artist and experimental musician Mees Joachim and is a character from a book by Hubert Lampo, namely ‘De komst van Joachim Stiller’, from which Mees’ middle name is derived. Mees has been using the Joachim Stiller moniker for many moons by now, though the name was only used for a series of performances, a documentary and DJ-sets until recently, with the release of ‘And The Overstaying Of Welcomes’ in 2023, in collaboration with Absolute Candor, being their first outing of original music as Joachim Stiller.