This album consists of 9 pieces based on scenes, photos, people, and experiences from my own life, plus two free improvisations. Although they are my personal memories, we recollect these experiences collectively as we translate them into sound. I share my personal experiences with the ensemble using materials ranging from graphic scores and written melodies, to photos and stories. I invite the others to individually interpret what I offer them. These materials function as unfinished compositions and as such challenge us to creatively connect our own ideas and sounds to the music, over and over again. To deal with this freedom in a musical way, we developed strategies for collective improvisation during a two-year artistic research process focussed on the Dutch tradition of free improvisation from the 1960s. This combination of recollection and improvisation has resulted in a record that is playful and personal, yet has an evocative, nostalgic, and impressionist character.

Our name, Epoxy Quartet, refers to my grandfather Joop Gijsman who spent a large part of his life pioneering the production and development of epoxy in the Netherlands. This debut release is dedicated to him. It means a lot to the me that my grandfather was able to listen to this record in the final days of his life. For the album artwork, Conor Hunter used a Hasselblad CM-500 to photograph the Oosterscheldekering, the largest storm surge barrier of the Dutch Delta Works, that was constructed with epoxy from my grandfather’s factory.