Thijs Troch is best known as a Belgian pianist and synth player across various musical settings (Jukwaa, Kabas, and Keenroh), but on Halcyon Days he plays the acoustic guitar most of the time. Likewise, Jozef Dumoulin, who is known as a pianist and Fender Rhodes innovator, focuses on the electric guitar. Double bass master Nils Vermeulen (who also plays in Jukwaa and Kabas) alternates between the double bass, violin, and banjo.  Cyriel Vandenabeele sticks with his electric and acoustic guitars, as Portuguese drummer João Lobo.

The album was recorded in one session at Studio Ledeberg in Ghent in January 2024. The quintet met for the first time at the studio where they improvised freely and explored some small sketches Troch had prepared for the occasion. By the evening, they performed for the first time as a quintet.  with an immediacy and openness that can be felt throughout the recording.

The album offers five quiet, peaceful, fragile and intimate melodic pieces. These pieces highlight the immediate affinity of this distinct, ego-free quintet as well as Troche’s open and inclusive sonic vision that incorporates breezy folk melodies («(Not) Awkward»), chaotic, enigmatic yet cinematic free jazz («Na De Broodjes» which means After the Sandwiches), and ambient textures. The 13-minute title piece begins as an innocent and gentle, almost child-like ambient piece, imagining our lost, missed halcyon days, before gravitating into a stubborn, repetitive, and minimalist guitar piece.  The last piece, «Ciao», captures again the peaceful, beautiful, and intimate atmosphere.
Eyal Hareuveni

Thijs Troch (piano, synthesizers, acoustic guitar), Jozef Dumoulin (electric guitar, piano), João Lobo (drums), Cyriel Vandenabeele (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals), Nils Vermeulen (double bass, violin, banjo)