Babils

LP version. Formed in Brussels in the early 2000s by Gabriel Séverin and Michel Duyck, Babils is a collective that emerged from the Belgian underground scene. The group quickly expanded to include Patrick Bellefroid, Étienne Vernaeve and Lukas Vangheluwe, before becoming a sextet with the arrival of Stephan Barbery in 2009. Active in various influential bands on the Brussels scene - Stephan Barbery and Michel Duyck in Digital Dance, Étienne Vernaeve in Isolation Ward and Gabriel Séverin in Silk Saw - the musicians share influences such as Can, Nurse With Wound and The Olivia Tremor Control. Babils builds its body of work around free improvisation sessions, which are regularly recorded and archived. The group thus develops a dense, hypnotic and organic sound, at the crossroads of psychedelic rock, krautrock, new wave and experimental music.

In 2009, Stephan Barbery officially joined the collective. This line-up gave rise, in particular, to the albums QTAB (2011) and WAH! (2013), whilst the double LP Prime Babilu Microcosm captures some of the most memorable moments of this period. However, the band would never perform as a six-piece on stage. Michel Duyck, whose health was gradually deteriorating, left the band and passed away on 8 November 2014. His passing had a profound impact on Babils, which nevertheless continued as a quintet. In 2017, Ji Ameeto was released, the first album recorded without Michel Duyck. The 16-minute title track was played in full on the programme hosted by Tom Ravenscroft, son of John Peel, on BBC Radio 6 Music. Even today, Gabriel Séverin, Patrick Bellefroid, Étienne Vernaeve, Lukas Vangheluwe and Stephan Barbery continue to keep Babils alive, remaining true to this collective approach to improvisation and to a sound that evolves at the crossroads of rock, experimental music and hypnotic textures.

The double album Prime Babilu Microcosm is dedicated to the memory of Michel Duyck.

Line-up: Michel D. and Stephan Barbery guitars, Gabriel Severin vocals, keys, percussions, Patrick Bellefroid bass guitar, Etienne Vernaeve drums, percussions, Lukas Vangheluwe trumpet.