Homemade Empire
Defenestration
Homemade Empire is the work of the musician Bart de Kroon. With an array of instruments (guitars, keys, singing saw, drums and a shaky voice) he creates music that ranges from quiet songs to ambient drones. For over ten years De Kroon has been making songs, touring and releasing records, first as part of bands, most notably Great Lake Swimmers and Pien Feith's band, and since 2010 as Homemade Empire. On his LP 'Defenestration' Homemade Empire presents songs about a quiet life and temporal interruptions of that so sought-after life since staying indoors is not always an option. The natural world is never too far away, both in the words and in the dogs barking during recording. Defenestration is earthy and intimate. The ambient drones are still here and make out a significant part of Defenestration and the songs often lack a proper structure or endings in order to get rid of distracting formalities. Aiding to the directness of the album is that most basic guitar and vocal tracks were recorded in one take with one microphone. The sound is not as lo-fi as the first Homemade Empire record, but it is not hi-fi either. These are crazy recordings, deep, messy, noisy and analog and it is a sound that can only be achieved by spending a long time in solitude driving an old tape machine, pedaling an old pump organ and strumming nylon strings until they get old, rust and start sounding good.