exactly a year after part of at the close of every day’s collected repertoire was taken through a remix grinding mill on “leaves you puzzled”, the twosome return with fresh goods, presenting the thirteen-track, fully english-language album “troostprijs” (“consolation prize”).
on troostprijs, the new album to appear in the spring of 2008, atcoed again goes to battle with its paradoxes. a winner new album with “consolation prize” as a misleading title? an english-language ship sailing under a dutch flag? a winter record in spring? liturgical artwork covering a raw, mundane record? and that’s just the outside.
the true paradoxes reside on the inside of minco eggersman’s universe, of which the listener again receives an uncomfortably intimate view. troostprijs is thematically characterized by meekness, lack of direction and succumbing frame works and certainties. still these themes are voiced with a cohesiveness not previously heard in atcoed’s work.
the urgency of “zalig zijn de armen van geest” resurfaces. the copperwinds breathe agelessness as on “the silja symphony”. reminiscent of “de geluiden van weleer” are the feral, rudimentary pop songs on one hand (“it’s like fire”, “i need to break your heart”) and the roots influences on the other (the ghost of ‘wovenhand’ blows more distinctly than ever, in the acoustic fingerpicking on “birds of a feather” as well as in the aggravated delay on “you are alright to me”). troostprijs is passing hints at all atcoed’s earlier albums, but sounds like none of them after all. as yet undisclosed inspiration was found in the flutes and brass band sounds from minco’s childhood days, which he finally seems to have been reconciled with. does atcoed personify the rain soaked eight-year-old that daddy made to march with his little drum around the village? or does embracing the memory perhaps offer a better consolation prize than forgetting?
for the first few turns, troostprijs may sound almost rash and resigned, still it harbors concealed melodic riches greater than we’ve heard from atcoed so far. troostprijs is more humble and earthly than previous works (only “little do i know” has a glimpse of eternity read between the lines), still its serenity stirs up a silent euphoria, for example in the captivating “the great sum of all beauty”. troostprijs is a record about reaching the finish line, but “even if we win, we win with our heads down” (the title track).
as we’re used to with atcoed albums, the artwork is again worth noticing. the listener receives his consolation prize in a silver cover (no gold, of course), with a purple rosette.
troostprijs cannot be translated, but is universal as a language of reflection. troostprijs appropriately stops the counter at thirteen songs. if that’s no guarantee for luck, we don’t know what is...
back in the days
late 2002 atcoed made their debut with their album “zalig zijn de armen van geest” (“blessed are the lowly in spirit”), which was received well worldwide. the band acquired a cult reputation with the 2004 “the silja symphony” album, which was labeled ‘album of the year’ by dutch national radio show 3voor12.
in the same year atcoed also presented their live cd/dvd “the sound of someone watching me” (recorded live in brussels during their european tour supporting 16horsepower, featuring david eugene edwards on guitar), as well as singer/drummer minco’s solo record “the wagon fair”. atcoed’s most recent work, the fully dutch-language hymnal “de geluiden van weleer” (“the sounds of back when”), which again was very well received in the netherlands and belgium, dates back to october 2005. the fall of 2007 saw the release of remix-album “leaves you puzzled”, occasioning a number of befriended electronica-artists to dissect a number of selected songs from atcoed’s previous albums and glueing the pieces back together.
during april and may the band will tour throughout the netherlands and belgium as well as germany. more information can be found on www.troostprijs.com and www.atthecloseofeveryday.com
| 01.10 | 
Vera, Groningen
|
| +LPG +Alamo Race Track | |
| 02.10 |
Poppodium Romein, Leeuwarden
|
| +Tom Dice | |
| 03.10 |
Tivoli-de Helling, Utrecht
|
| +LPG +Alamo Race Track |
