Description
Label Review.
2019 album. Indie. Also available on CD.
Our Overview.
Singer-songwriter Christof van der Ven is releasing his second album ‘You Were The Place’ -an album immersed with expansive synths and often experimental orchestration - which was written and recorded over the three month period immediately following the end of a brief and intense romance. The tracks on ‘You Were The Place’ stand as an unfiltered overspill of emotions in the aftermath. Van der Ven captures the subtle, soft textures of recent memories, using the album as a vehicle to examine his confusion and frustration around this evolving heartache, as well as the pain and humour that comes from shared vulnerability.
It meant a less meticulous process than his previous releases, but one that forces an unravelling that is as instinctual as it is important: “I got a lot of comfort out of reading and the urge to just make the record,” he explains. “Some of the album is more intricate and complicated, some of it is really quite simple. I haven’t let myself do that before.” Recorded, produced and mixed by Marcus Hamblett (Villagers, James Holden & The Animal Spirits, Bear's Den), 'You Were The Place' features instrumentation contributions from good friends: Tommy Heap (Matthew & The Atlas, Wildwood Kin), Jools Owen (Bear's Den), Tommy Sheen, Emma Gatrill (Matthew & The Atlas, This Is The Kit, Rozi Plain) and Andrew Stuart-Buttle (Lucy Rose, Rolo Tomassi).
Van der Ven is now based in London, splitting his time between working as a chef, playing as a touring musician with Bear's Den as well as releasing and touring his own music with the help of a strong friendship group of fellow musicians and artists.
His debut album 'Empty Handed' (2018) arrived shortly after supporting Bon Iver at the Hammersmith Apollo and ahead of joining Joan as Police Woman, Nick Mulvey, Lisa Hannigan, Talos, Willy Mason, S.Carey and Mikaela Davis as main support on selected UK and EU dates.In support of the release of ‘You Were The Place’, Christof van der Ven will be playing headline shows this autumn in The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and the UK.