HX transformed into an album about loss, pain, setbacks, but eventually more than anything, acceptance. The down but not out qualities of a song like Salt make it feel safe to look back on things. But as with all art the best songs transcend their subject matter and start to live a life of their own. Around is such a song. It has the typical upbeat indie grooves of Dutch counterculture anthems as My Decision, but at the same time it could just as easily have been your favourite extra bonustrack on In Rainbows. Then again a song like Beginning sounds more like a future Drake sample. As with the born popsingle Before it’s Gone it is that radio-ready production of Arne van Petegem that makes us connect so easily. He’s back in the control room after his work for the previous album, Strike. So is guitarist Bobby Gibson after an eight year absence. On one of the absolute gems of HX, Save Me, Marien Dorleijn belts full of craving “I Need You here”. Is he singing about his bandmates? His Mother? About us listeners? Melancholy is for once our friend and not our enemy when listening to the new Moss album. A state that feels almost crucial in these trying times.
Loupe
Sometimes things just work out. Writing their first single ‘Leave Me There’ was one of those occasions for Loupe. It being the actual first song they’ve created together as a band is just an additional footnote for this four-piece from Amsterdam. While the music had been written by Lana (bass guitar), Annemarie (drums) and Jasmine (guitar) the lyrics and a fitting vocalist were still lacking. They found their missing link in Julia (vocals).
Loupe have poured a lot of time, energy and love into the four songs on their first EP ‘Older’. Written in their rehearsal space in Amsterdam’s Vondelpark, the band found themselves within the busy & chaotic surroundings