After touring and gigging relentlessly all over the world, Mathieu Vandekerckhove (also Amenra, Kingdom, Sembler Deah) locked himself in to compose the follow-up to the introspective journey that was 2012’s universally acclaimed masterpiece “Now and Forever”. The brand new album follows the same path of meditative drones and deep and subtle melodies, blurring lines between ambient and postrock music.
The journey that “Now and Forever” started is on “Forever and a Day" explored in more intricate depth, with layer upon layer of mesmerizing aural waves that floods and grabs its audience. The subtle but distinct contribution of Dehn Sora (Treha Sektori, Sembler Deah, Ovtrenoir) adds to the overall direction of the album, with melancholic and pensive moods being entangled with a sense of longing, aspiration and belief. “Forever and a Day” is another milestone in Vandekerckhove’s oeuvre.
“Now and Forever” was a dialogue between a father and his son -- as the title of the new album suggests -- the bloodline is continued on “Forever and a Day”, with a dialogue between a son and his father.
The cover art depicts a sculpture made by Syndrome’s Mathieu Vandekerckhove’s father. The sculpture was made around the time Vandekerckhove was born, and it was prominently on display in the family’s living room.
It literally was a centerpiece in the young and adolescent life of Vandekerckhove, with him growing up in constant proximity of the sculpture. Now in his adult life, the sculpture becomes the centerpiece of his musical development.
The bronze sculpture not only resonates with Vandekerckhove’s past, present, and future; it also perfectly connects with the musical story he tries to convey: the work of art has no limbs, but only a torso and a head with no eyes. Despite it being a motionless entity, it emanates a lot of force. However, that force is caged in the prison of its own body. It knows no freedom, there’s a constant notion of absence, a dark and brooding void; sorrow, bereavement and grief.
It’s adamantly clear that to Vandekerckhove the image is much more than a decorative ornament; it depicts his coming of age — both musically, but also on a deeply personal level, confirming the journey we’re invited to partake in come September will be a spiritually profound one.
