HAEVN.

HAEVN makes big music without raising its voice. The low vocals of Marijn van der Meer, the cinematic compositions of Jorrit Kleijnen and a band that understands how much power there is in restraint: together they create songs that do not grab attention, but slowly draw it in.

Want to listen to this music on vinyl too? Check out HAEVN's Wide Awake on vinyl at SJELF.

A SONG BEFORE A BAND

The story did not begin on a stage, but in a studio in Amsterdam. Film composer Jorrit Kleijnen and singer-songwriter Marijn van der Meer were introduced to each other in 2014 for music for commercials. Kleijnen thought in images, tension arcs and orchestral colors. Van der Meer brought a warm, dark voice and an instinct for melodies.

Those different backgrounds turned out to fit together perfectly. Together they wrote Where the Heart Is and Finding Out More. The music was intended to accompany images, but listeners heard something in it that continued to exist without a screen.

When Finding Out More appeared in a BMW commercial, people used Shazam to search for the unknown track. The song reached international Shazam hit charts. There was only one problem: HAEVN barely existed as a band yet.

FOUND BY LISTENERS

Van der Meer and Kleijnen suddenly had to continue building something that the public had discovered themselves. The name HAEVN combined two ideas that listeners recognized in their music: heaven and haven. Something heavenly, but also a place to come home to.

In 2015, the studio project grew into a band. Guitars, bass and drums gave the carefully built productions a human foundation. HAEVN was named 3FM Serious Talent, played at festivals and sold out Paradiso. Interest in the discography was growing; the band had to write new material while the venues were already filling up.

CINEMA WITHOUT A SCREEN

On the debut album Eyes Closed from 2018, HAEVN found its recognizable form. Piano and electronics move slowly, guitar parts shine at the edges and Van der Meer's voice stays close. Songs like Back in the Water, Fortitude and Where the Heart Is sound big, but never overcrowded.

That is where Kleijnen's film background lies. A HAEVN song often develops like a scene: first atmosphere, then movement, only then the big release. The production does not tell everything. There is still enough open space left for the listener to place their own memory or story in it.

THE ORCHESTRA WAS ALWAYS THERE

The orchestral side of HAEVN came fully to light on Symphonic Tales from 2019. With a fifty-piece orchestra, they recorded new versions of existing songs and two new compositions. No strings as decoration, but arrangements that made the breath, silence and tension of the songs bigger.

The project showed that HAEVN was not simply a pop band with cinematic influences. The orchestra was already in the way Kleijnen composed from the beginning: in layers, dynamics and movement. The symphonic versions made audible what was sometimes only suggested in the studio recordings.

FROM HOLY GROUND TO WIDE AWAKE

After the Holy Ground EP from 2022, the second studio album Wide Awake followed in 2024. Where Eyes Closed introduced the world of HAEVN, this record looked further inward. Songs like Promise, One Day and revolve around vulnerability, connection and the courage to honestly face yourself.

The music did not suddenly become loud or rushed. HAEVN actually broadened the sound by choosing even more precisely what a song needed. Guest singers, gospel colors and organic instruments were given space alongside the electronic foundation. The silence between two notes remained just as important as the notes themselves.

SYMPHONIC TALES II

In 2026, HAEVN returned to the orchestral idea with Symphonic Tales II. New and familiar songs were rebuilt for a forty-piece orchestra, with contributions from Neco Novellas and néomí, among others. It was not a nostalgic repetition, but a next step: connecting the intimacy of the original songs with the scale of a concert hall.

Thus, the circle is still not complete. HAEVN continues to make music that sounds as if it comes from a film scene, but needs no film. The image arises by itself — somewhere between the piano, the voice and the space they deliberately leave open.

Discover the musical context in POP..

Want to get to know one record closely? Read the album story of WIDE AWAKE.