Ruud Houweling - Accidental Pictures (2023) Hi Res

The follow up album to his acclaimed Erasing Mountains (2017). With the alternative folk on that record Ruud had found a new musical direction, born from the heartfelt need to create a contemporary sound that beholds something of its geographic origin. The layered songs, constructed around the guitar playing and vocal, move on emphatic grooves, while tuba, trombone, clarinet and viola add subtle acoustic European flavors, from both folk and classical music (Fauré, Debussy, Weill). His sixth studio album (four under the Cloudmachine moniker) is an eclectic singer-songwriter record in which you may hear slight influences from Paul Simon, Randy Newman or Tom Waits, that breathes authenticity. On Accidental Pictures a son is letting go of his father. Above all though, this is a feel good record. Written from a longing for light in a time of uncertainty. Everything seems to have changed, looking back amazed by the coincidences of existence and the inevitable temporality of it. There’s a pleasant distance to the world. It’s about seeing why you’ve become who you are, understanding others better at the same time. And, free from the pull of old desires, asking oneself, “where am I, where to next?’