the silent ballet

The North Green Down was inspired by Chris Hoosen's last walk with his sister-in-law, Hannah, prior to her death from cancer.  The main theme shakes one's inner being.  The warmth surrounding the artist's mourning makes every listen an experience to savor, and the compositions are absolutely sublime.  This is a fantastic collaborative effort, an album about death, loss, and honest human emotions at their most fragile and vulnerable.  High profile releases may have taken center stage this month, but this album deserves its space in the limelight.  In this reviewer's opinion, it's the year's best album to date. 

 

De:Bug

Das erste Mal kollaborierten Emauele Errante und Dakota Suite auf dem Remixalbum für Dakota Suites “The End of Trying”. Mit 18 Stücken ist “The North Green Down” nicht nur in seiner Länge episch und filmisch gehalten. Auch fast vergessene Indie-Hintergründe Dakota Suites tauchen hier in tiefschönen Gitarrenpickings wieder auf, wenn auch hauptsächlich in akustischer Gangart. Diese Zusammenarbeit ist ein Glücksgriff für alle Liebhaber zurückhaltender Tonmalerei. Für sich sind beide Acts ja bereits eine Bereicherung. Das versierte Cellospiel von David Darling ergänzt sich dazu perfekt, tragend, aber nie zu aufdringlich. Man will den Eindruck nicht loswerden, als würde dieses zugegebenermaßen noch junge Jahr ein besonders wertvolles Jahr des eigentlich Unworts Moderne Klassik werden. “The North Green Down” ist in dem Zusammenhang vielleicht jetzt bereits schon ein elementarer Puzzlestein dessen.

textura.org

If The North Green Down largely hews to a predominantly elegiac mood it's wholly understandable, given the event that inspired its production. The project developed out of an unfortunate life experience that involved Chris Hooson (aka Dakota Suite) and his family, specifically the death from cancer of his sister-in sister-in-law Hannah. In August 2009, she, her sister Johanna, and Chris visited a place much-loved by the family, Southwold in Suffolk, where the three at one point found themselves walking back from the ocean through a part called the north green. It was at this moment that Chris, mindful of Hannah's fate, felt the first glimmerings of the music that would eventually grow into the album. Having established a prior relationship with kindred spirit Emanuele Errante (via a remix project titled The Night Just Keeps Coming In), Hooson contacted him about the idea of collaborating on the project—“a suite of hymnal pieces,” in Hooson's own words—that eventually became The North Green Down. The material is electro-acoustic in nature, with instruments such as piano, acoustic guitar, clarinet, and cello (the latter courtesy of David Darling ) augmented with field recordings and subtly interwoven electronic touches. Given the subject matter, the album could have been angst-ridden and overwrought; instead, Hooson wisely opts for a mood that's closer in spirit to stoical melancholy and music that's graceful and pastoral in character, moves that honour his sister-in-law by treating her memory with dignity. Some of the pieces would work perfectly well as soundtrack material for a romantic period piece (the pensive piano-based setting “A Loveless Moment,”  for example), and much of it likewise exudes a peaceful splendour (such as the atmospheric piano-and-strings setting “Away From t his Silence”). A clarinet's breathy tone introduces “The North Green Down III,” after which the by now familiar piano theme, as soft as raindrops, reappears. Darling 's beautiful playing helps “A Worn Out Life,” “They Could Feel t he End of All Things,” and “The North Green Down VI” (an eleven-minute tour-de-force) stand out as three of the album's most affecting pieces. A more electronic dimension comes to the fore during “No Greater Pain” when pulsations inject the material with rhythmic vitality, but the album's emphasis is clearly on the acoustic side of things. Though the work thoroughly earns its recommendation, prospective listeners should note that it is, at eighteen tracks and eighty minutes—equivalent in length to a double album—a long journey. Even so, the artists certainly honour the memory of Hooson's sister-in sister-in-law with this lovely and oft-poignant recording—a memento mori in the truest sense.

ambientblog.net

The deepest grief can often inspire the most impressive art. 

The albums of Dakota Suite are not the ones to celebrate the happier moments in life, as can be seen from their titles alone. They commemorate sadness, loss, pain, fear and loneliness. But the (mainly acoustic) instrumentation also always leaves room for hope, for acceptation of the way life is. Previous Dakota Suite releases have brought some timeless masterpieces, like "The End of Trying"  and its remix companion "The Night Keeps Coming in" (you can still stream the Folio Radio show compilation of these two albums).Dakota Suite's latest release "The North Green Down " may prove to be their most impressive work to date. But the foundations of this album is of heartbreaking sadness once again..."The North Green Down "  is dedicated to Chris and Johanna Hooson's sister-in-law Hannah Dyke, who died of cancer at the age of 37. 

The instrumentation effectively illustrates the grief of such a life event, with Chris Hooson on piano and guitar, David Darling on cello, Colin Dunkley on piano and cello, Johanna Hooson on clarinet, and a somewhat surprising (and rather modest) role for Emanuele Errante (keyboards, field recordings, laptop, harmonica, voice).

Some of these compositions are reworkings of tracks that appeared in the Vallisa live recording from last year, which also contained a version of "The North Green Down".  Like on earlier Dakota Suite recordings, the compositions are all very compassionate, which gives them a timeless, classical quality."The North Green Down " is an impressive commemorative for all family lost too soon.It is released on Lidar Productions  - (which some of you still may remember from the legendary Bersarin Quartett in 2008). 

ondarock.it

È come se, da qualche anno a questa parte, l'irresistibile forza gravitazionale di un buco nero stesse attraendo la discografica recente di Dakota Suite. È vero che Chris Hooson non è mai stato uno spirito particolarmente gioviale o, quanto meno, tale non è mai stata la sua musica, da sempre incline a racchiudersi in un'introspezione dalle sfumature seppiate, in una malinconia sobria, distante anni luce dall'autocompiacimento. Ma - dopo lo iato di quattro anni successivo a "This River Only Brings Poison" - la produzione di Hooson ha tratto ispirazione esclusiva dai temi della perdita, dell'esaurimento delle relazioni e della resa incondizionata a un destino ineluttabile.

Da artista estremamente sensibile qual è, Hooson ha sempre messo in musica i suoi sentimenti, cristallizzando nei suoi dischi le istantanee emozionali offertegli dalla vita e dagli affetti più cari. Da questo suo vero e proprio scrigno di ispirazione, gli sono dunque giunte negli ultimi anni quelle sensazioni di resa e di sconforto già consacrate fin dai titoli dei suoi ultimi due dischi, "Waiting For The Dawn To Crawl Through And Take Away Your Life" e "The End Of Trying". "The North Green Down" rappresenta lo stadio successivo di questo mesto percorso, quello conseguente al verificarsi della perdita, che pure Chris Hooson ha voluto condividere in musica con qualcuno estraneo al suo personalissimo vissuto e tuttavia percepito come estremamente vicino alla sua sensibilità. L'incontro tra Hooson e il validissimo compositore ambientale napoletano Emanuele Errante risale all'interpretazione da parte di quest'ultimo di "Second Hand Light", in occasione dell'album rielaborativo "The Night Just Keeps Coming In". L'empatia raggiunta tra i due ha dunque indotto Hooson ad affidargli un ruolo fondamentale nella realizzazione di "The North Green Down", album dedicato alla memoria di sua cognata Hannah, morta di cancro dopo una lunga malattia, ma anche a tutti i distacchi più dolorosi, a tutte le piccole morti che quotidianamente capita di dover affrontare.

L'idea di "The North Green Down" nasce nel 2009, nella cittadina di Southwold, nel Suffolk: in quel luogo denso di ricordi e affetti familiari, Hooson torna insieme ad Hannah, con la consapevolezza che sarebbe stata l'ultima volta e la netta percezione di perderla ad ogni passo percorso dal mare del Nord alla zona di Southwold denominata, appunto, "The North Green". Le emozioni di quei momenti e la sensazione di un destino che scorre tra le dita come sabbia sono state ben presto tradotte da Hooson in scarne piéce di chitarra e pianoforte, inviate poi a Emanuele Errante per essere rifinite con violoncello, saturazioni ambientali e crepitii elettronici. Il risultato di questa collaborazione tra anime, accuratamente rifinito nel corso di lunghi mesi, è ora racchiuso nei quasi ottanta minuti di "The North Green Down", opera traboccante romanticismo e abbandono, grigi paesaggi balneari inglesi e più tiepidi riflessi mediterranei. Come già per "The End Of Trying", anche in questo caso non avrebbe molto senso dissezionare le partiture di ognuno dei singoli pezzi, poiché è piuttosto la resa complessiva del lavoro quella che conta, una resa che sa di esistenzialismo, di rimpianti, di desolazione emotiva, senza tuttavia mai cedere a eccessi sentimentalisti né a tempeste depressive.

Nei diciotto brani strumentali di "The North Green Down" vi è piuttosto una solennità composta e consapevole e, nuovamente, quella sorta di autismo espressivo già presente negli ultimi lavori di Dakota Suite e tuttavia in grado di dischiudere mondi ai (verosimilmente) disposti a oltrepassare quella dolorosa barriera (a)comunicativa, pur in questo caso resa più permeabile dal fondamentale contributo di Emanuele Errante, le cui sinuose stratificazioni elettroniche si saldano alla perfezione a completare iterazioni acustiche e ovattate note pianistiche, che risuonano su sospensioni temporali liquide e dilatate. Da esili armonie di pianoforte a riverberi appena accennati, da minimali afflati cameristici e impalpabili texture ambientali, "The North Green Down" è un'unica, mirabile elegia innalzata al cielo, dedicata con sommo trasporto e delicatezza a chi non c'è più, in un ricordo vividissimo e toccante, invincibile anche dalla morte.

Se qualcuno crede ancora che esistano dischi non riducibili all'asetticità di una valutazione critica, ebbene, "The North Green Down" può a pieno titolo annoverarsi tra questi. Perché le personalissime profondità emozionali che hanno ispirato un'opera del genere non sono misurabili, ma meritano soltanto un rispettoso tentativo di interpretarle, di farle proprie, alla ricerca di un'empatia preziosa come quella conseguita dei due artisti che l'hanno realizzata.

westzeit

Chris Hooson, der Mann hinter Dakota Suite, ist einer der wenigen Musiker und Komponisten, von denen ich behaupten würde, dass sie es tatsächlich schaffen, Gefühle zu vertonen. Und ich meine, präzise, detailiert und authentisch. Geradezu nachvollziehbar. Gefühle als Essenzen von Lebenssituationen, Begebenheiten, Begegnungen und Trennungen. Gefühle, die sich in Bildern und Klängen manifestieren und die durch die dadurch entstehende Atmosphäre vermittelbar, vielleicht sogar tatsächlich teilbar werden. Die Grundlage für „The North Green Down“ bildet der frühe Tod von Hoosons Schwägerin, die an Krebs starb. Während des letzten gemeinsamen Urlaubs hielt er Momente in Themen fest und schickte diese Skizzen dem italienischen Komponisten Emanuele Errante. Das melancholische Cello von David Darling, mit dem Hooson bereits „The End of Trying“ aufnahm, ist auch wieder dabei.

meg.ie

For the uninitiated among you (which might well be all of you), Dakota Suite is the name under which Leeds-based musician Chris Hooson releases music. Despite his singer-songwriter beginnings he has moved increasingly into the area of classical music. After toiling away in (mainly) obscurity for the last 15 years or so, his latest release North Green Down is a 98 minute long collaboration suite with Italian ambient/electronica experimentalist Emanuele Errante. It was written as a response to the death of Chris’ sister-in-law. The music is largely piano-based, with ambient creaks, scrapings and static, along with more conventional embellishments of guitar, cello, woodwind and strings. There is a single theme (the title track) in seven movements, interspersed with related pieces. The theme itself is based around a cinematic piano motif which recurs across this album. For music as sparse as this, it is the delicate touches of guitar, fingers scraping across fretboards which really make it. On A Worn Out Life (with Cello), the aforementioned cello makes a dramatic entrance, dominating one of the more fleshed out pieces here, similarly in They Could Feel The End Of All Things. Despite the very minimalist template, there are the minutest of variations throughout, keeping this from becoming too similar. Some of the titles are in Dutch (the jazzy-sounding Leegte, the Eno-like Wat We Kwijt Zjin)

A Hymn to Haruki Murakami, and later, Nobody Is Ever Safe and the non-cello version of A Worn Out Life showcase Chris’ minimal guitar picking. There are touches of Satie, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and even a little Red House Painters (circa Ocean Beach) creeping in here and there across this album, along with the more orchestral side of Tindersticks? A Loveless Moment is particularly cinematic, with prominent strings and eerie, foreboding piano, while at the other end of the scale, No Greater Pain has the ambient noise pushed out front. Best heard as a whole, in one sitting, rather than digested in individual tracks. This sort of music does not fit into mp3 culture, and requires patience. It cannot be listened to ‘on the go’ or while doing something else as it simply does not fight for your attention. Rather it sits there in solitude, prettily doing its thing, unafraid to toil away in isolation, but greatly rewards attention given to it. Sit and listen.

Ikonen Magazin

Melancholische, minimalsitische Pianomelodien, atmosphärisch flirrende und fließende Streicherklänge, gelegentlich einige gezupfte Gitarrenakkorde - 'The North Green Down' ist wie ein nachdenklicher Tag an der Meeresküste. Dakota Suite und Emanuele Errante widmen dieses dichte und wunderschöne Album einer junge Verstorbenen Verwandten, und tatsächlich atmen die Klänge sehnsuchtsvoll den Hauch der unerfüllten Träume und ungenutzten Möglichkeiten - all jener Leben, die man nicht mehr führen kann oder durch Entscheidungen nie geführt hat. Themen die man aus der Literatur von Haruki Murakami kennt, dem Stück 3 explizit gewidmet ist. Erhaben kommt vor allem Track 7 'A Worn Out Life' daher: mit lange nachklingenden Klavierakkorden und elegischem Cello (von David Darling). Track 10 'They Could Feel the End of all Things' knüpft daran nahtlos an. Ein halbes Leben zieht so vorbei... 'The North Green Down' ist ein introspektives, tiefes Organic-Ambient-Album von großer stilistischer Geschlossenheit. Für Fans von Max Richter und Arvo Pärt gleichermaßen interessant.

Subjectivisten.nl

Na 2002 volgen vijf jaren van stilte rondom het uiterst melancholische project Dakota Suite van Chris Hooson. Dat doorbreekt hij op zachte wijze met het prachtige Waiting For The Dawn To Crawl Through, waarop droefgeestige stukken staan, die klassiek, postrock en filmmuziek in zich verenigen. Twee jaar later, in 2009, gaat hij daar met zijn negende album The End Of Trying op monumentale wijze overheen. Hij werkt hierop samen met de cellolegende David Darling. De discografie van de band kan je grofweg in tweeën delen, aan de ene kant de meer songgerichte en aan de andere kant de instrumentale, filmische en meer klassieke platen. De laatste paar werken lijkt hij zich vooral te focussen op de laatste categorie. Dat is waarschijnlijk ook de reden geweest dat zijn laatst genoemde album geremixt is door hedendaagse neoklassieke en elektronica artiesten als Peter Broderick, Machinefabriek, Elegi, Greg Haines, Tape, Hannu, Hauschka, Jasper Leyland, Deaf Center, loscil, Jacaszek en Emanuele Errante. Dat alles is gebundeld op het wonderschone The Night Just Keeps Coming In (2009, 2010). Na het live album Valisse, dat hij samen met David Darling en Quentin Sirjacq heft opgenomen, verschijnt nu zijn nieuwste album The North Green Down dat hij samen met de Italiaanse ambient/elektronica artiest Emanuele Errante heeft gemaakt. Die laatste heeft net zijn derde album uit en is één van de remixers van Dakota Suite, wat de start is geweest voor hun samenwerking. Het album ligt al een klein jaar op de planken, maar verschijnt nu eindelijk via het Duitse Lidar dat eerder ook al magnifieke cd’s van de Bersarin Quartett en Jasper TX het licht heeft laten zien. Nu mag je een droefgeestig album verwachten, maar zeker als je weet dat het is opgedragen aan Chris Hooson’s veel te vroeg overleden schoonzus Hannah Dyke (1973-2010). Chris brengt hier gitaar en piano en Emanuele keyboards, harmonica, veldopnames, laptop en ergens ver op de achtergrond ook zang. Ze krijgen ruggensteun van Colin Dunkley (cello, piano), David Darling (cello) en Johanna Hooson (klarinet). Doordat Chris een tijd in Groningen heeft gewoond verschijnen er weer Nederlandse titels als “Leegte” en “Wat We Kwijt Zijn” tussen de daaraan verwante Engelse (en één Italiaanse). De muziek van beide heren is filmisch, melancholisch en van een ontroerende pracht die z’n weerga niet kent. Ze lijken elkaar feilloos aan te voelen en brengen hun geluiden ongedwongen in perfecte harmonie. Op rustieke, pastorale wijze voeren ze hun minimalistische maar overweldigende composities uit. Fragiele pianostukken, cellopartijen die door merg en been gaan en fraaie ambientachtige omlijstingen maken de dienst uit, waarbij de intensiteit van de ingrediënten varieert; soms is het meer klassiek getint en op andere momenten juist weer meer elektronisch. Gevoelens van leegte, verlies, rouw, machteloosheid en eenzaamheid maken zich van je meester bij het horen van deze sprekende, diepgravende muziek die ergens tussen minimal, ambient, experimentele muziek en neoklassiek uitkomt. Soms kan schoonheid gewoon pijn doen. Een mooier eerbetoon dan dit kan je niet wensen, een mooier album van beide heren eigenlijk ook niet. Dakota Suite en Emanuele Errante hebben een tijdloos en bloedmooi meesterwerk gecreëerd.