Suntapes

Suntapes, the alias of Belgian musician and composer Tomas Vanderplaetse is the result of fifteen years of musical experiments and long, inspiring trips in Asia. As a classically trained pianist, Suntapes started with the acoustic piano and analogue synths, but whilst traveling he easily got obsessed with unusual instruments from China, Vietnam, Thailand, Morocco, India. An arsenal of acoustic instruments are used on Suntapes recordings. His music ranges between acoustic film music, new classic and synth wave.

Tomas Vanderplaetse is also the keyboard player of Belgian rock legend Arno. In between many shows with Arno, he develops his Suntapes oeuvre. Although “Hunting for hills” is the debut album of Suntapes, many lo-fi releases have been made before on royalty free websites such as Jamendo, where Suntapes appears as one the best selling artists.

For “Hunting for hills” Suntapes re-edits tunes of a few years old and records new tunes. He leaves other recordings untouched. Some original takes of crucial instruments of several years old make it on the album because they just felt right from the start. Also field recordings he made in Asia appear in his work. In the studio Tomas experiments with different techniques and microphone settings resulting in the recognizable, warm and dreamy sound of Hunting for Hills. On the album he gathers nine tunes that are in their turn a collection of impressions that he got on his travels around the world.