Classic Water ○ Hopes

CLASSIC WATER
WEIGHS FEAR AND FASCINATION
ON NEW SINGLE 'HOPES'

“What were the real hopes we had / Those days we played in the grass?” Today, Dutch alt-folk/americana collective Classic Water releases new single "Hopes", the first single of their upcoming sophomore album Matter Of Time. An album that resonates like a calm before a storm; songs that gleam like rays of sunlight penetrating an ominous fog.

It’s a substantial departure from the band’s impressive debut album Concrete Pleasures – a document of inspired reinvention, enraptured storytelling and expressive playing. The eight songs that comprise Matter Of Time are a natural next step, reminiscing moments when existential doubt starts to taint the roving spirit, memories distort into dreams, and where the ocean’s surface dissolves into a fathomless sky. Songs that feel tender and measured in both sound and expression; their protective shell eroded by universal troubles and concerns.

Tom Gerritsen, the band’s main songwriter, is a generous singer throughout Matter Of Time’s equally generous runtime: close-mic'd, honeyed, soft-spoken, like a familiar embrace warding you from that big bad world lurking outside. Within this geniality are hues of sadness and regret, like on album opener “Hopes”, which laments the days of gazing up at  unpolluted skies, wondering out loud if such unconditional optimism is now forever a thing of the past.

The frontman explains: "'Hopes' is about the strange dual sensation of fear and fascination that I have often felt simultaneously in recent years. It's about how, in our era of climate change, you can become obsessed with the most terrifying visions of the future, how you almost compulsively consume new apocalyptic scenarios every day. In the song, I wonder what has changed since the time when I, as a child, spent endless days playing in the grass and gazing into the distance. The song suddenly came into existence and started as an almost entirely electronic demo. For this album version, our goal was to make it sound as if you're inside a Spanish guitar, comfortably enveloped by warm wood."

Debut album Concrete Pleasures (2021) was recorded within the vast echo chamber of the Swedish countryside with Stacy Parrish (a.o. T Bone Burnett, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss), and concurrently, the songs sure as heck sound like it. Matter Of Time, in more ways than one, hits much closer to home. Recorded at the Amsterdam studio of Dutch producer Jan Schenk (a.o. Amber Arcades, Lewsberg & Claw Boys Claw), overseeing the sparkling waterside of the river IJ, Classic Water realized that capturing these songs required a more pragmatic and practical approach, using minimal overdubs, while repurposing elements from demos Gerritsen recorded at home.

His voice is oft-accompanied by a Spanish guitar, its warm tones accentuating the music's feeling of sanctuary amidst the dread. Meanwhile, the other founding members – Albert Dijk (drums), Lotte van Leengoed (vocals, keys), and Jan Pieter Middelkoop (bass) haunt these songs like obdurate specters.

Although Classic Water - named after a David Berman (Silver Jews, Purple Mountains) poem - only made its first appearance in January 2020, they have managed to maintain sizzling throughout the pandemic, receiving media attention from the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Belgium, Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, and even Japan and China, next to their home country.

From an expansive livestream video project - recorded at and in collaboration with 7 different hometown venues - for their first album release show to creating a mechanical analogue art installation for their Le Guess Who? performance in 2022, the band's live shows have proven to be visceral experience. It has already brought them to renowned Dutch venues like Paradiso (Amsterdam), Vera (Groningen) EKKO & TivoliVredenburg (2x Utrecht), as well as international performances at a.o. Future Echoes (Sweden), Kulturhaus Insel (Berlin), FZW (Dortmund), Palais Sommer & The Sound of Bronkow (2x Dresden).

Matter of Time will be presented on February 16th 2024 at De Nijverheid, Utrecht. Tickets are available via https://eventix.shop/qqygq8v9

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Single artwork by Viktoryia Shydlouskaya Dijk: www.viktoryia.art

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DIFFUSION OCTOBER, 28, 2023