BLAUDZUN.

Blaudzun often lets a small sound grow into a broad song. His music can be carefully constructed, but retains the feel of a voice wanting to convey something directly.

On Heavy Flowers, guitar, rhythm, and vocals grow towards one another. Promises of No Man’s Land gives that movement a different landscape, with melodies that linger even after the chorus.

Lonely City Exit Wounds brings layering closer. _UP_ and the parts Jupiter I and Jupiter II open different routes through the same attention to tension and space.

The Best Of brings together multiple periods. The 2010s gives the music a broader time context; through INDIE ROCK and pop, you can listen further to the relationship between band sound and melody.

De Staat builds tension with a different rhythmic gesture. Spinvis makes words and sound coincide in a different way. Eefje de Visser, Froukje and DI-RECT add extra vocal timbres to the selection below.

On a subsequent listen, follow one instrument until the chorus begins. A small addition can lift the entire song, while the vocals remain close. That gradual movement makes listening again worthwhile.

On vinyl, Blaudzun gives equal attention to both the broad arrangements and the smaller melodic gestures. On Heavy Flowers and Promises of No Man’s Land, the songs can sound expansive, while the voice remains a personal anchor. A LP side allows that tension to develop over multiple tracks. The Jupiter records and Lonely City Exit Wounds open other chapters, in which the relationship between band, rhythm, and vocals shifts once again. Listen to the instrumental motifs behind a chorus: they do more than double the melody and often give the song an extra movement.

A Blaudzun-LP is therefore a good entry point into his work as an album artist. A best-of collection brings together recognizable songs, but the individual studio albums retain their own context. In a vinyl collection, you can place these forms side by side and hear which details recur on each record. Also, give the subdued passages time to reveal their character.