TWILIGHT RITUAL

Geert Coppens and Peter Bonne have been involved in many different projects, including many different musical styles, about which you can read more on other pages on this site, e.g the Micrart Group story, the Autumn history, Linear Movement, or within the A Split Second history.

The spirit of Twilight Ritual lingers on beneath the work of Autumn through A Split Second. The work of Twilight Ritual is diverse, yet concise. The Twilight Ritual work in the eighties inspired many other musicians, and became known worldwide - the original RITUALS album is now a collector’s item.  RITUALS was the first to be re-released on CD by Genetic Music in the mid-90s. More have followed since then.

The return of Twilight Ritual with ORGANIC in 1996 amazed many. However, it was not a prolongation of their former work, but a completely new genre, however still recognizable in sound and spirit. The critics were unanimously enthusiastic.

After ORGANIC, the band continued in the same style with the release of FULL MOON, again a set of beautiful tracks with inspired sounds and melodies. At the same time, Twilight Ritual engaged in a second CD called Painted Wall, in which they focussed on their old love of ambient music.

From this rich and varied material, and using new work, Twilight Ritual designed the concept performance 'Nocturnal Transmissions', from which a CD is made available.

Geert and Peter continued writing songs, resulting in a retro-cd RELECTROMAGNETISM and an again innovating DISTANT FIRES CD.

Twilight Ritual continues on creating new materials, reworking old material, live concerts and fine new releases. Geert Coppens has launched his solo projects 'Das Cabinett' and 'Gerardus Le Monk' with 13 CD's up to now.

All materials were remastered and made available on CD through Audiolife, an online on-demand CD production service, which has meanwhile become obsolete. Watch out for Twilight Ritual's old and new releases to appear on digital media!

The TWILIGHT RITUAL Story

Mystery Origins

Twilight Ritual was born in Geert's mind during the first Autumn years. It was building integrity, clearer identity, admittance of mistery and surreal impressions. During Autumn recording sessions, musical style and experiment varied strongly, which is recognized in the various tape releases. However, some tracks had clearly more 'spirit' or 'personality' than others. It became clear that a new project was born out of Autumn work : Twilight Ritual.

The Ritual

The Twilight Ritual tracks had more rhythm, more vocals, more song-alike structure than Autumn-style tracks. However, the still remained room for experimental music. But Twilight Ritual understood how to combine experiments with 'mainstream' songwriting. This basic concept kept alive until today.

In 1982, the first Twilight Ritual tracks were recorded and put on a special tape 'The Ritual'. Half of the tracks on this tape were recorded in a small professional studio, and finished off in Micrart's studio's Attne C and D. The band also prepared for special concerts, using the studio recordings as tape playback. 

They met with Bert Van Brande, who made a video of one of the tracks, featuring Lieve Van Steerteghem : ELEGY.  Twilight Ritual itself started experimenting with photography and video which became a large portion of the bands activities later on (see e.g. the Metropolis project for which the Autumn bandname was used, but basically inspired on Twilight Ritual concepts).

One track didn't fit and was later only used in compilation projects : Lifestyle (recovered on the RITUALS CD release).

Rituals

Twilight Ritual continued evolving and many tracks were recorded in 83 and 84 (only interrupted by the demanding Metropolis project). By that time, they equipped themselves with various tape recorders and managed to develop a technique of bouncing tracks from one tape to another while recording new layers each time. It resulted in a very rich sound, yet clear and powerful.  

In the same period, all Micrart Group bands were taking part in many compilation projects. One of them was initiated by Javier Marin from Auxilio De Cientos in Granada, Spain. He proposed to release a full-length Twilight Ritual album, and the band agreed. The band selected the songs, went searching for cover material and designed a layout. At the same time, the Micrart Group established itself as an official publisher for the band.
Rituals was released in 85 and was an immediate success. There were only 1000 copies made, to be sold out within the year. Amazingly enough, up to today Rituals inspires many.

The Factory Scream

During the preparations for the Rituals album release, recording went on and some tracks were recorded in the newly built TOP Studio, where later A Split Second recordings would be made. These tracks were later bundled on the tape 'The Factory Scream'. The tracks show a technical evolution of sound and songwriting. Some tracks are improvised on the spot and required only a stereo master tape to register. 

Pause

By the end of 1985, Peter and Geert developed other interests. Given the fact that they could no longer have access to their fully installed studio (studio Attne E was moved partially to the TOP studio), reduced their freedom to experiment at whatever moment for whatever period of time. Only the TOP studio recordings remain from that era which were put on the last Micrart tape. Geert got a degree in art history, went experimenting with photography and video (see cover work for A Split Second), while Peter involved himself completely in A Split Second. However still working together and keeping in contact, Twilight Ritual as a musical band paused in existence for several years to come.

Rebirth

At the end of the A Split Second era, the Micrart Group built the new Micrart Midi Recording Room, ahead of its time in concept. During the same period, Peter (Chrismar Chayell) started the Wasteland project searching for new and better music. Having the Micrart Studio again after so many years enabled Twilight Ritual to start working together again. At first, it was just an experiment to see if Peter and Geert, having led quite different lives since 1985, could regain the momentum that made Twilight Ritual so special. Soon enough, it was clear this was going to work. After all, having worked together for over 10 years before, it wasn't really a surprise. Twilight Ritual relaunched itself smoothly, without any promise for a new release whatsoever. All that remained to be seen...

Making Organic

The availability of the new Micrart Midi Recording Room (Studio 6) in Ghent ignited Twilight Ritual to restart working in 1991. The experiment soon resulted in some interesting tracks, and a new sound smoothly emerged. The first couple of tracks were recorded, discovering a new sound for the reborn band. During that year, tracks like 'Receiving The Stigma' and 'Implosion of the Box' were written. One could recognize the old Twilight Ritual in these tracks. By end 1992, the new Twilight Ritual sound fully emerged with tracks like 'My Delay', 'Veneto Sundown' and 'Your Intrigue'. It ignited the belief that this new band is really worth doing. Support for the project came from many sides, including Wasteland.

‘My Delay' is rightly a milestone in the Twilight Ritual history. This specific track was written and composed, recorded arranged and mixed in a single day-long session. It showed that Twilight Ritual still had loads of inspiration, and could work very fast with an exceptional result. During the years 92-94, this was the standard of working : ons session = one track. For some tracks Peter only completed the arrangement and mix later on.

Each track had about the same style of working : Peter and Geert started of with some basic ideas, and built together on themes, melodies, sounds, rhythms and variations. Then Peter got to work on the song structure while Geert developed the lyrics and replied on the evolution of the composition. By the end of the day, the song was virtually finished and both started recording the vocal tracks. All other tracks were computer driven. Finally, Peter finished off with the mix, sometimes the same day, sometimes later.

Organic breathes the atmosphere of the Micrart Midi recording room : a smooth cocoon with all equipment within reach, soft and dark colors, built as replacement of ones living room. As a matter of fact, it was Peter's living room. The studio gave view through the kitchen to a small garden, while another room was used as storage area for amps, tapes and other stuff. The studio itself was a single place : control room and audio room in-one-piece. By mid 1994, the band had enough tracks to assemble an album and, encouraged by many promising critics went for a record deal.

By mid 1994, Peter contacted Jo Bogaert (Technotronic), who just launched a new label, and asked if Twilight Ritual could join. Jo was interested and planned a release. However, later on Jo decided not to go on with the label, and Peter searched for another release candidate. Eventually, Subtronic records (Dortmund, Germany) released Organic in 1996, but only for the German market. Efforts to arrange distribution in other countries failed. Today, Subtronic doesn't exist anymore and rights returned to the Micrart Group. The booklet that joins Organic is a real piece of art : it contains paintings by Geert and photography by Geert and by Peter. Design and layout are realised by Twilight Ritual, but we must thank Simon Cassier for help on the work he did for this booklet's first edition.

At the home front, requests for availability of Organic inspired the band to organise a Multimedia event. They did not want to present the album with a live concert, but with a general presentation of the band concepts. Special music was written to join the Twilight Ritual paintings, computer graphics posters, and slideshow.  

Request for Rituals

ORGANIC boosted renewed interest in Twilight Ritual. Press reviews were unanimously positive and, although Organic was only released in Germany, letters and emails started to arrive from many places. Many requests were made to re-release Rituals, the good old one. Plans were made to release Rituals again with Subtronic, but by that time Subtronic ceased to exist, returning all initiative back to Micrart Group.

Full Moon and Painted Wall

Since finishing Organic, Twilight Ritual has recorded many other tracks. Also, a renewed interest in ambient music resulted in some atmospheric tracks, one of which is available on the Art For Ears compilation 'Ambient Explorer'.

The CD 'Full Moon' was compiled out of melodious and soundful tracks that fit right next to the atmosphere of 'Organic'. At the same time, ambient tracks were written and compiled on the CD 'Painted Wall'.

Nocturnal Transmissions

This event presents the all-round artistic activities of Twilight Ritual. Using recent and varied musical material, and new tracks, and combining this with contemporary digital artwork and poetry, a conceptual performance was created.

Located in the fashionable 1843 Antwerp Bourla opera theatre, Twilight Ritual performs Live, combining ambient tracks, graphics and poetry, assisted by few guest musicians.
Here’s a special page about this event.

Rituals Release on CD

20 years after its original release, in april 2005, and after a long period of preparation and refinements, RITUALS is finally available on CD from Genetic Music and Micrart Group. The CD contains some tracks never released before!

WebbMen revived and released on Vinyl

Flexx.be released a 12" with the original and the Indecs edit of WebbMen, originally written in 1982 and released on The Ritual. A compilation has been released on iTunes as well.

Distant Fires

Twilight Ritual is back with a superb release "Distant Fires". Released on iTunes (digital release) and Audiolife (for CD hardcopy). A couple of great tracks recorded earlier are released as a 5-track cd "House of Fools".

A new Retro-Electro album

Following some gigs end of 2006, TWR worked on some new tracks bundled in a new retro-electro CD called “RELECTROMAGNETISM”. Really cool tracks that sometimes make you wonder if they weren’t really recorded in the early 80’s.

Twilight Ritual on Vinyl

In the first half of the 2010’s, the 3 original Twilight Ritual albums were released on vinyl through Onderstroom Records. As limited editions, only a few of them remain available.

Twilight Ritual Best Of 1982-2021

Wave Records, Brazil, releases a unique Double CD Best-Of collection, with a limited release containing an additional CD. Together with this release, which contains some previously unreleased tracks, is a new video of “Closed Circuit”.

Twilight Ritual again goes Live

November 2022, Twilight Ritual performs live at the Ombra Festival, Barcelona. It’s been a while, but the best tracks, selected from a 40-year career, are performed.

And…

Materials for a new release have been awaiting mixing and mastering for a while. Look out for new stuff to arrive …

Meanwhile

Twilight Ritual is releasing revamped versions as new singles. Great songs that have been hidden away a bit and deserve the attention. Quite some tracks !