Dutch multi-instrumentalist Thijs Kuijken went in at the deep end for Our Blood, the new album under the I am Oak banner. With no outside help - except a few friends on backing vocals - he tries to come to terms with the death his father, who succumbed to cancer two years ago. Kuijken has put his grief into a bunch of tracks where darkness and light are trying to get the upper hand. Life and death are treated as equal parts of being human.
Our Blood is a sparse album, with keyboards, muffled percussion and vocals sharing the spotlight, with banjo and surprisingly loud guitar cutting through the fabric of the gentle textures. Kuijken keeps his balance while he walks the tightrope between the past and the future. It's heartfelt monument for his father and a musical statement as Holland's foremost folk singer rolled into one.
Our Blood will be released thru Snowstar Records. Pre-orders (CD, 500 transparent seafoam green vinyl and regular black vinyl) come with an extra EP with four stripped down acoustic versions. Release date: February 26th.
Tracks:- Geest
- Omen
- Warl
- Volcano
- Dacem
- Way Out
- Shallow End
- Own
- Woven In
- Woandering
- Gold
- Your Blood
- 02/26 Utrecht, Netherlands @ Ekko
(album release party - w/ This Leo Sunrise) - 03/03 Antwerpen, Belgium @ De Roma
- 03/07 Leuven, Belgium @ Het Depot
- 03/10 Frankfurt, Germany @ Brotfabrik
- 03/11 Rorschach, Switzerland @ Treppenhaus
- 03/12 Bern, Switzerland @ Café Kairo
- 03/14 Wien, Austria @ Kramladen
- 03/15 Erlangen, Germany @ E-werk
- 03/16 Leipzig, Germany @ Wärmehalle Süd
- 03/17 Dresden, Germany @ Schwarzer Salon
- 03/18 Berlin, Germany @ Privatclub
- 03/19 Hamburg, Germany @ Molotow
- 03/20 Dortmund, Germany @ FZW
- 03/24 Amsterdam, Netherlands @ OT301
- 03/25 Zwolle, Netherlands @ Hedon
- 03/26 Nijmegen, Netherlands @ Merleyn
- 03/31 Rotterdam, Netherlands @ V11
- 04/01 Eindhoven, Netherlands @ Wilhelmina
- 04/02 Groningen, Netherlands @ Grand Theatre
- 04/08 Lörrach, Germany @ Between the Beats
- 04/09 Wawern, Germany @ Synagoge
- 04/21 Hasselt, Belgium @ Café Café
- 04/22 Gent, Belgium @ Trefpunt
Watch a solo session @ the Grasnapolsky Festival.
HCTF review of Ols Songd
