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Doug Hoekstra
Think of it as a sonic twister heading across a passionate musical plain touching down without warning and delivering glorious unheaval everywhere it lands. Doug Hoekstra's music is never quite what you think it's going to be. In a climate where the mixing of styles and traditions is the thing to do, he pours out the only style he knows. He does what he does… he just sounds like he's mixing styles when he's doing it.
While folk, pop and rock are some of the spices flavoring these delicious entrees, the sliding voice of Bob Dylan (minus the grit), the frivolous irreverence of the Fab Four (minus three) and a shear lack of fear are some of the main ingredients on Hoekstra's latest CD Around The Margins.
Hoekstra's unusual outlook on music and life in general is evident on the album's title track, a one minute five second clarinet, viola instrumental apparently inspired by the weather channel. Hoekstra provides a stormy pallet for the weather report playing in the background and foreshadows the folk-pop of "Lost Among The Ruins." On this track, an optimistic musical ruse is a set-up for lyrics that fret the thought of getting old. You know …like when your mother sits around and watches the weather channel all day and says things like, "she wore that outfit yesterday." Will that happen to you too? Much worse, will it happen to me?
"Laminate Man" a candid song about the darker side of a musician's life, could be about Hoekstra himself. The honesty and expression of Hoekstra's music reveals an ocean deep personality, intense and curious yet endowed with the gift of delivering his truths in an un-encumbering manner. That's the paradox of his songwriting. He brings your guard down then strikes you at the core.
-Fran Gray
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