Gallowstreet makes a painting of the Dutch landscape with wind instruments

“This is our most mature show to date. By far!” Baritone saxophonist Dirk Zandvliet looks surprised into the Amsterdam church De Duif. It is also strange, because look at them standing there: eight men neatly lined up in their neat clothes in front of the altar. And look at them sitting there: their audience. To sit. That was completely impossible for eleven years at concerts by brass band Gallowstreet.

On the fourth record of the horns, a different sound can be heard. Gone is the city, gone is the punk, gone is the pumping, driving groove that caused mosh pits and made festival tents swirl. That could be bad news, but it’s not, because with Lowlands Gallowstreet presents a beautiful, spatial painting of the Dutch landscape. During the pandemic, they recorded the nine pieces with titles such as ‘Iron Rhine’ and ‘Turnaround’ in the open air. The birds can be heard on the record and the music also carries live along riverbeds and polders.

So the wind blows through the church during ‘Morning‘, a song they recorded along the IJssel on an early morning in March. Now the eight in sailor blue shirts are lined up in two rows. On the right the saxophonists and trumpeters, on the left the tuba and two trombones, in the middle the drummer. Blue saudade sounds in ‘Pour Jeanne‘ that came about in the Meinweg nature reserve. The composition, which betrays something of the Limburg harmony, is an ode to the mother of trombonist Jeroen Verberne, but he dedicates it to all mothers on this international women’s day.

Also read the interview with brass band Gallowstreet: ‘In a revolution, the brass band leads the way’

Rhythmic marriage

Family seems to be a theme anyway, maybe that’s part of the mature sound. They play ‘Nuevo Ano’ by theater company Dogtroep, of which Dirk Zandvliet’s parents were core members. It offers space to solo, the emphasis has been more on composition and harmony than we are used to from Gallowstreet.

The tight line-up is broken again when Verberne, during ‘Spring tideblows on his shell collection under teal sealight. As the evening progresses, the blood creeps where it cannot go. More and more often there are short breaths on tuba and baritone sax that enter into a rhythmic marriage with the drums. The street returns for a moment, the groove returns and soon they are back at the front of the stage blowing hard and rhythmically, rousingly illuminated by the stroboscope.

Lowlands is a layered ode to meadows, heaths, forests and rivers. It’s nice to see Gallowstreet grow. Fortunately, the eight also show that this ‘adult’ project is probably just a temporary break from puberty. After all, there are still plenty of tents that need to be blown down.

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