Remko Willems - Java (Nisipa)

The Slow Music Movement
Sep 12
1 min read

A girl in a dress leans on a ship's railing with a lifebuoy. A man’s face is superimposed. Text: "Remko Willems Anak Indiē." Vintage mood.

Remko Willems is a Dutch guitarist and soundtrack composer with a fondness for blending gypsy, Latin, jazz and Indo-Rock styles into pleasingly fluid world fusion styles, and his latest album is true to form.

The whole album is solid, with the man calling up a few friends to drop by the studio and bring their percussion, synths, strings, flute or whatever along and add their flavour to the already evocative brew, but there are a couple of track that go that bit deeper, and "Java" is one of them.

As the title suggests the track looks to the East, stopping off in India on the way and audaciously even drops in a flamenco flourish and a bit of Americana twang - he really can't help mix it up. Aided by some exotic percussion, the focus though is on conjuring a mystical Asiatic scene full of low lit intrigue and if you're not transported to a quiet, joss stick smoke obscured corner of an Eastern bazaar whilst listening then I'll be surprised. The rest of the LP is a bit brighter, breezier and straight ahead, but if you like this track then check out the cheerfully entitled, "Afterlife" which has a similar, deeper and slightly moodier vibe.