NOTE: Gapless playback is not supported on this page. The download album is presented without gaps.

Bert Strollenberg
Sonic Immersion

Sprook is an early concept recording by composer Matthew Florianz. It presents a cinematic work of sonic art while merging the dark, dense and the abstract. Its fictional storyline describes a land without light and ruled by an entity of darkness, arrogantly allowing the thought of light to seep through.

Make sure though you experience the outcome with headphones, as the minimal drones and slow morphing longform textures hide in low volume, spreading an aura of profound mystery as the rise and fall of soundscapes meanders on. Its deep cinematic impact evokes dense moods and images found in SF-stories such as Gormenghast, The Dark Crystal and even a slice Bladerunner, but in the second half of the sonic excursions more passages of faint light dare to show up.

The original album, now available as free download from the composer's website, has been extended by five other highly atmospheric tracks that were meant for the Sprook-EP (but omitted in an early stage) .

All in all, if you like to take a fantastic, deep and psychedelic mind trip, take a dip in the whirlpool of inner landscapes, shadows and melancholic waves that make up Sprook.


Matthew Florianz
2002 Album notes

Sprook described a land without light and ruled by an entity of darkness, arrogantly allowing the thought of light to seep through.

The fictional story of darkness' transformation from nothing, to a shadow that required light to be seen, resonated creatively. Sprook evoked a dialogue when it presented itself with room for interpretation and was more restricted and less interesting when it didn't.
As an abstraction; a singular idea is more interesting when balanced against a contrasting idea even if (or more precisely: because) it reduces the impact of the original idea.

Fascinated by this finding, darlings where killed and almost 15 minutes where cut. Gene Williams, who did an amazing job mastering the album, suggested releasing the omitted tracks which resulted in sprook ep.

Sprook is a step between older experiments and the albums that came afterwards; The Tone T(h)ree and GrijsGebied. A step between experimentation / searching or a deliberate and planed approach. Though it has, of course, always retained some impulse of the former.

Sprook is also a steppingstone because it grabbed the attention of label owner Darren Scott. He wanted sprook to be the first release on his label H/S Recordings and although we did prepare the materials for a CD release, it was skipped in favour for a release of GrijsGebied.

You can play Sprook and the omitted tracks (sprook ep) in the sequence before it was shortened by using the following order:
1, 2, 10, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 9