Dutch musician Freek Kinkelaar has recorded an impressive number of songs over the course of his career and quite a few under many different pseudonyms as well, most notably with Fans de Waard in a project called Beequeen. In 1989 Kinkelaar began a new solo project under the moniker of Brunnen, releasing 3 LP's and a few singles. Although by his own admission Brunnen has not been very active, The Beekeeper's Dream compiles both old and new recordings from 1992-2005; thirteen recordings in thirteen years.
The Beekeeper's Dream is hard to pin down musically and to a large degree that is a big part of its appeal. Kinkelaar's approach is one of a minimalist nature as far as instrumentation goes, often relying on just simple keyboard textures along with the odd sample and light percussion such as tablas to achieve the right mood. His vocals often do not rise above a whisper, creating sublime moments of introspection on songs that for the most part do not exceed 3 minutes in length, but rather act as short sound bytes all woven together to create a unified body of work. Things do take an interesting turn about half the way in as Kinkelaar throws in a surprisingly up tempo take on "Trust in Me", a song featured in The Jungle Book movie. The whole thing clocks in at just under 40 minutes and my only complaint about the CD was that it was over too quickly. The Beekeeper's Dream is the perfect, rainy, Sunday morning companion.
Track Listing
1) Cover Me
2) All The Same
3) Sister
4) Shame
5) The Trial
6) Rupert Writes a Rainbow
7) Trust in Me
8) Winterland Train
9) Fly
10) 666
11) The Wolf Hour
12) Marias of The Sea
13) Miranda