Once upon a time in a land of lonesome princesses and nursery rhymes lived a troubadour called Jacco Gardner, whose motto was “let me be the saviour of your mind”. He sang dreamy tales, tales that capture one’s imagination in an eerie world and time.
His collection of songs is sound fiction and quirky storytelling, somewhere between Alice In Wonderland and The Madcap Laughs : colorful and pristine, bittersweet and poetic, childlike but thoughtful.
Gardner the knight in shining armour plays all instruments on his record. No one could tell that this man hails from the Netherlands, he may as well be British and have lived in the sixties.
Some might say he is too retro, he is just deliciously baroque, his harpsichord will get under your skin in no time.
His otherwordly atmosphere is both instant and haunting magic, very visual and cinematic, on par with director Jacques Demy’s imagery in Peau d'Ane.
One can easily get lost in Cabinet of Curiosities’ twists and turns, it is the sort of record that leaves you enchanted but this is escapism with no sugar coated fairytales, melancholy prevails.
A book of magic spells, this record is unreal, each tune finds you daydreaming and under a strange spell.
The final track The Ballad of Little Jane substantiates the lyricism of this young songwriter with a song whose beauty and irony vie with each other.
Time will tell if the wizard has more than a few tricks up his sleeve. Cabinet of Curiosities was released on Trouble In Mind in February, 2013.
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