Tim Mariën uproots and challenges the musical experiences to which we as listeners are accustomed. Above all, the use of unconventional tunings makes one feel at first like a stranger in the music of the Belgian composer, then nevertheless “at home”. Mariën, who appreciates a certain unruliness in the sonic material, detunes and reconstructs instruments in order to elicit unique microtonal scales and timbres from them.

This portrait album presents works by the Belgian that have been composed since 2001 and performed by the Tiptoe Company, by Ictus and by Ensemble Temporum. The modular string composition A Basement Suite, the album’s namesake, takes us into a surreal sphere of sounds and invites us into Tim Mariën’s acoustic wonderland.

Booklet: EN, FR, NL