“Always, I have believed that artist albums need a purpose” says Johan Gielen, “and that purpose can’t simply be feeding the industry machine or the bi-annual expectations of a fanbase”. Nonetheless, it’s been nigh on twenty years since ‘Revelations’ appeared, making ‘Etherflow’ less of a ‘return’ to the Johan Gielen longplayer, and more a musical reckoning for it. Fair to say then that expectations have been raised, and its taken the Belgium-born/Dutch-based legend three earth cycles of production to meet them. An album forged in grief, resilience, and a raw creative truth, ‘Etherflow’ isn’t just a long-awaited ‘next chapter’. It’s part an epic celebration of life, and part an existential excavation of it - one that’s been written from the inside out and charged by the weight of lived experience. As Johan himself puts it: “there’s the Beauty of Silence, but also ‘the beauty of absence”. ‘Etherflow’ though is where that absence ends. What’s in a title then? Johan expands … “Etherflow represents the natural, continuous movement of universal energy — an invisible current that connects every being, thought, and element of existence in a harmonious manner.” Which is important, as that perspective on life is bound into every musical bar of the album - one that’s shaped by events all too real in Gielen’s life.
1. Etherflow
2. Invincible
3. Beach Pearl [Robert's Theme]
4. Love from Above
5. Piano Del Sol
6. Ecstatica
7. Healing
8. Never Look Back
9. In The Dust Where Love Is Gone
10. Nordic Chant
11. Satellites
12. Marula Sunset
13. Circles
14. All Of Me For All Of You