Orphax
Movement
“Movement” is a work based on various piano sketches by Kenneth Kirschner, which Orphax edited, added synthesizer and organ, and mixed. The title “Movement” for this work comes with the idea that the music is continuously moving and never really stands still. It is also a reference to classical music, where a composition can be built up from different movements. This work has something similar, and consists of 5 different movements coming from multiple piano sketches (often combined).
Structure
*102 copies limited edition* "Hot on the heals of Inheritance, the collaboration with my brother Tjeerd (who performs as PONI), I have a new solo album called Structure. The music was recorded live at Factor IJ in Amsterdam, during an exhibition of works by Wladimir Zwaagstra (whose art I used for the cover of my CD Less is More). The music was fully improvised, and with only a few small edits presented as mini-album on this new CD. The music was recorded by Fani Konstantinidu at Factor IJ, Amst…
Inheritance
*300 copies limited release* Orphax & PONI (person of no importance) is a collaboration between the two Dutch brothers, Sietse (Orphax) and Tjeerd (PONI) van Erve. Since their early years they share a broad interest in music, fed mostly from their fathers’ record collection, ranging from early blues to Pink Floyd or Beethoven. But also listening to Belgian radio channel Studio Brussels (which during the late 80s and early 90s was a common listening close to the borders between The Netherlands an…
Echoic Memory
200 copies. September 2022 I had a short tour in the UK with a couple of performances. One of them was at the beautiful venue Cube Cinema in Bristol during the Echoic Memory evening with Scanner. For this performance, I composed a new work, in which I further explore the perception of time. It follows much in the line of my previous works Embraced Imperfections and Less Is More. Not only because of the live performance, but also in atmosphere and mood. Yet, at the same time is even more dreamy, …
Spectrum
'Spectrum is a continuation of my interest in the perception of time, and at the same time an acknowledgement of me being on the autism spectrum. I got diagnosed with this about 2 1/2 years ago, which was quite the shock for me at that moment. But in the past 2 1/2 years I have learned so much about this.
This album, with my interest in minimalism, opposed to bombastic music, is a form to embrace my autism and to accept it as it is. I didn't change as a person, but I do know myself better. The m…
De Tragedie Van Een Liedjesschrijver Zonder Woorden
*2022 stock. 300 copies limited edition* “De tragedie van een liedjesschrijver zonder woorden” (The tragedy of a song writer without words) is the first normal CD by Orphax. This album contains music that has been written between April 2005 and July 2007 and retouched again in 2008 and 2010. The period these songs were written was one with many transitions in the live of van Erve. It was the end of his student years, the begin of his working years, a period where he struggled with an at that tim…
Dream Sequences Volume 1 Orphax Reframed
*2022 stock. 200 copies limited edition* This compilation is the first in a new series where other musicians are inspired by and reinterpret the music of Orphax; and more specifically, his Dream Sequence series. Dream Sequences is a continuous series of experimental ambient / drone pieces with a dreamy touch.
"After the release of Dream Sequence # 3 I asked some friends to listen and to collaborate on a new release. The first reply came from Haarvöl, whilst Jos Smolders also followed with intere…
Less Is More
**200 copies limited edition** In August 2021 Moving Furniture Records curated a music program accompanying the minimal art exhibition 'Less is More', presented by Polderlicht at Factor-IJ, Amsterdam. On this occasion the Orphax performance was recorded live. This CD features the full set - no edits, no cuts. This live set merges Orphax's fascination for minimalist art and his idiosyncratic take on drone music, offering warm and organic atmospheres in which the listener drifts away, losing not o…
Orphax Reworked (4CD Box)
Tip! * 300 copies * 4 CDs with compositions created using 44 sounds of 44 seconds by Orphax as source material, by TVO / Ruaridh Law, Modelbau, Fani Konstantinidou, Machinefabriek, Jos Smolders, Elif Yalvaç, Siavash Amini and Orphax. When I started working on my 44 sketches of 44 seconds already quickly came the idea to ask friends to create music with these 44 sketches. The idea is to take musicians from their comfort zone, and have them experiment and think in different ways about composing m…
Warschauer Straße
* Edition of 300 * The two compositions on Warschauer Straße are inspired by a first visit to Berlin. The titles of the album and the two works might not seem to be very common or memorable places in Berlin to refer to, though for me personally they mean a lot. After the first visit in begin 2016 I went back several times and had some really good moments which still come back to memory regularly. Be it sitting in Mauerpark, walking up the stairs of Siegessäule, eating chocolate in front of Franz…
Somniatores
* Edition of 100 in A5 sized folder. * Somniātōrēs is is the second album I recorded about sleep. This is a follow up to the album Music for Thái Ngọc which was released in October 2016. For this album I reworked several pieces from the "Sæti" EP and the album "Suppressing an unpleasant feeling..." album as one new recording. While still being recognizable the sound has become even more dreamy and warmer, and there is more room for long sustained drone sounds.
Already for a long time I wanted to…
En De Stilstaande Tijd
* Edition of 300. Pressed on clear translucent vinyl in spot-varnish artwork * With 'En de stilstaande tijd' (roughly translated: 'And the frozen time' / 'And the stillness of time') Orphax (Sietse van Erve) returns with a new work that further explores the themes of time and perception of the listener. The new album follows in line with Orphax works like 'Time Waves', '2.20' and 'Live Circles', with added emotional depth. In this sense 'En de stilstaande tijd' is a continuation of 'Piano Music'…
Piano Music
Piano Music is a release with two short tracks which are based on piano recordings Orphax made at De Ruimte in Amsterdam Noord in Mid and End of Summer 2017. On this release musically Orpax breaks with his other work by using more melodic ambient sounds and focus less on the drone. It is one of his most personal works to date. The music on this 7" is about closure and trying to leave things behind, how difficult this might sometimes be. It is about making the wrong decisions and regretting those…
Saxophone Studies
Two long drone pieces based on improvised saxophone by James Fella and Jozef van Erve. One intense mind-melting business. Saxophone Studies is an album that took multiple years to form. Already in 2006 I asked friends and other musicians if they could send me audio files to make music out of this. This music never really happened, but one of the files I received was some saxophone recordings by James Fella (Soft Shoulder / Gilgongo Records). In 2017 while browsing my computer for audio files I c…
2.20
With this album Orphax further explores the various possibilities of drone music. For this work, inspired by the work Vice Versa... by Eliane Radigue, he recorded two works using almost the same settings in the virtual modular software Audiomulch, except for changing one small setting. The recorded source material was than used as building blocks in reaper to create two compositions of exactly 20 minutes. These two compositions can be played separate from each other, but the idea is also the cre…
Time Waves
Orphax is the Amsterdam based musician Sietse van who has been active with music since 1998. Time Waves is his second proper CD release after 34 CD-R, Tape, DVD-R and download releases and various compilation contributions and remixes. "On December 8th I performed at the famous Bimhuis in Amsterdam in a special evening organised by STEIM where I shared the stage with Yannick Franck and Thomas Köner. My performance got recorded and this was the starting point for Time Waves. In addition I did a l…