
Jeroen Dirrix
The work of composer and musician Jeroen Dirrix revolves around the deep subconscious; producing, composing, and performing happen synchronously. With an instrumentarium of analog synths, piano, and electronics, Dirrix creates ambient/minimal music that emerges organically, without writing things out in advance. As a result, his performances are always a surprising, hypnotic experience.
As a classically trained drummer and percussionist, Jeroen Dirrix has explored virtually every genre: classical, jazz, techno, experimental rock, soundtracks, and minimalism. He has played in jazz ensembles, symphony orchestras, techno duos, and rock bands. Although Dirrix can maneuver flexibly within any musical setting, he could never quite capture the same feeling he experienced as a teenager, sitting behind the piano in his parents’ living room.
Dirrix started drumming at the age of five, and translating this natural rhythmic ability into the melodic qualities of the piano opened up an entirely new world of possibilities. His deep fixation on minimalism was ultimately confirmed when he saw a performance by the world-renowned Nederlands Dans Theater, featuring compositions by Philip Glass. Discovering Glass and Steve Reich was a massive eureka moment for Dirrix. Much like the material he had played on his own, this vital movement of composers applied the same hypnotic elements—only on a much larger scale.
From that point on, Dirrix’s entire mentality as a musician shifted. His most recent recordings and performances focus primarily on pianos and analog synths, amplifying their percussive components into meditative, semi-improvised pieces. In 2018, Dirrix independently released Take The Air, an exciting two-part EP created almost entirely within a single limitation: to generate new ideas within the sonic range of the Moog Sub 37.
It is an early example of Dirrix’s infectious way of working. After playing various sets at Annabel and Paradiso Noord during the Amsterdam Dance Event, Dirrix will continue following the path where the music takes him—rather than the other way around.
Listen to Jeroen Dirrix
