Northern California’s Emerald Triangle, known for its rugged beauty, is the birthplace of PIET DALMOLEN’s long-awaited debut solo LP, TIME STANDS STILL. Set for release on January 17, 2025, the album features eight diverse tracks that blend psychedelic rock, jazzy blues, and indie-Americana. With a perfect balance of bass, drums, keyboards, and Dalmolen’s smooth guitar and understated vocals, the LP delivers a rich sound that captures both joy and vulnerability.
A seasoned studio engineer and session guitarist with two decades of experience, Dalmolen toured nationally in the mid-2000s with the band Nucleus. He later played with several Northern California groups. These days, Dalmolen is taking on multiple roles for his deeply personal project. With Matt Engel on keyboards, Tommy Fitzmaurice on drums, and Ian Taylor on bass, TIME STANDS STILL was recorded in several sessions during 2023 at Odyssey Studios, a rustic barn perched on a prairie overlooking the Pacific Ocean. There, Dalmolen focused entirely on his creative vision and band leadership, laying down basic tracks before overdubbing additional guitar and vocals at his own Universal Balance Studios in Arcata, California, throughout 2024.
In the aftermath of the pandemic and personal life changes, Dalmolen took a transformative trip to Maui in the summer of 2023. His time in Hawaii was crucial to the music on TIME STANDS STILL, with the album reflecting his emotional journey. While staying in Lahaina, Dalmolen narrowly escaped the devastating wildfires that swept through the area, fleeing on foot with his guitar and eventually hitchhiking to the airport.
After spending 15 years playing in other bands and performing cover songs, Dalmolen felt it was time to return to creating his own music. He assembled a local dream team of musicians, and everything began to fall into place. “I love my band for their talent, aesthetic, and easy-going personalities,” Dalmolen shares. “As I get older, I realize how important it is to surround myself with people I can rely on and enjoy working with. Thankfully, they believe in my musical vision.”
Dalmolen wrote, produced, mixed, and mastered TIME STANDS STILL himself. The album’s introspective lyrics explore themes of love, loss, fatherhood, mortality, and new beginnings, all delivered through stripped-down analog production. The result is a blend of gritty grooves, earthy textures, and captivating guitar tones, producing melodies that resonate deeply with listeners. The album’s sound reflects Dalmolen’s personal evolution, touching on Floydian dreamscapes, prog-inspired improvisation, surf rock, and much more.
The song “Being” stands out as the lyrical centerpiece of the album. The first chorus was written on Dalmolen’s hotel balcony in anticipation of the Maui storm, and the second chorus was penned on his flight home. “The pretty guitar coda is something that just came out of me the morning of the fires,” Dalmolen recalls. “Before we knew what was going to happen. The wave sounds you hear in the track are my own field recordings from the trip, not stock sounds. It feels poetic to have them permanently etched into a record that means so much to me.”
To celebrate the release, Dalmolen and his full band will perform live at the Arcata Playhouse on January 18, followed by shows in the Bay Area at Mac’s 19 Broadway in Fairfax on February 15 and The Back Room in Berkeley on February 16.
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