Aranis

Flemish ensemble Aranis creates original compositions that fuse classical chamber-music textures with the insistent pulse and propulsion of rock and minimalism. Antwerp serves as the group’s home base; composer and bassist Joris Vanvinckenroye leads the project, which performs without a drummer and privileges acoustic instruments. Alongside Vanvinckenroye the lineup has featured flutist Jana Arns, violinists Linde de Groof and Liesbeth Lambrecht, violist Stefan Wellens, accordionist Marjolein Cools, guitarist Stijn Denys, and pianists Axelle Kennes, Ward De Vleeschhouwer, or Pierre Chevalier.

The self-titled debut album was tracked in August 2005 and issued later that year by Lowlands. Early listeners greeted the recording warmly, likening Aranis to other chamber-oriented Belgian groups that straddle modern classical, rock, jazz, and European folk traditions—Julverne and Louise Avenue among them, both of which counted members of avant-prog ensemble Univers Zero. The band itself cites Univers Zero as an influence, together with Astor Piazzolla, Gavin Bryars, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Flat Earth Society, and the composers Stravinsky, Bartók, and Shostakovich.

In 2007 Aranis recorded and released its second album, Aranis II, which included a guest appearance by trumpeter Bart Maris of X-Legged Sally, Flat Earth Society, and Think of One. The group then undertook an extensive Belgian concert schedule that ran through autumn and winter and continued into spring 2008.

April 2009 saw the recording of the third album, Songs from Mirage, which incorporated vocal contributions from Els Van Laethem, Herlinde Ghekiere, and Anne Marie Honggokoesoemo. That same month Vanvinckenroye, recording under the name BASta!, completed his debut solo album Cycles. Both Songs from Mirage and Cycles appeared on the Belgian modern-folk label Home later in 2009.

Aranis’ fourth album, Roqueforte, followed in 2010 on the Italian AltrOck label. Personnel changes produced a new configuration—Vanvinckenroye, Arns, Lambrecht, Cools, Denys, Wellens, keyboardist Chevalier (Univers Zero, Present), and drummer Dave Kerman (5uu’s, Thinking Plague, Ahvak, Present)—that placed greater weight on rhythmic drive and power while retaining the ensemble’s chamber-music character and Vanvinckenroye’s compositional consistency.

The 2012 Home release Made in Belgium returned the band to a drummerless sextet of Vanvinckenroye, Lambrecht, Cools, Denys, Arns, and De Vleeschhouwer. Rather than drawing solely on Vanvinckenroye’s material, the album interpreted works by Belgian composers including Wim Mertens, Univers Zero’s Daniel Denis, Present’s Roger Trigaux, and Louise Avenue’s Jan Kuijken, delivering them with characteristic rhythmic precision, energetic spirit, textural complexity, and timbral warmth. Positive response to the project led to the 2014 Home release Made in Belgium II, announced as the second volume in a trilogy devoted to Belgian composers. With Chevalier reinstated in place of De Vleeschhouwer, the album presented an even broader selection of Belgian-authored pieces, encompassing music by Flat Earth Society’s Peter Vermeersch and Univers Zero’s Kurt Budé alongside contributions from Vanvinckenroye, Chevalier, Kuijken, De Vleeschhouwer, and others. Avant-rock, jazz, and experimental guitarist Pierre Vervloesem appeared as a guest on two tracks.