Selah Sue
For years the butt of everyone’s Eurovision jokes, Belgium has got out from under the ‘nil pois’ cloud and bloomed into a truly interesting musical landscape.
Despite being blessed with artists singing in English, French and even Flemish, Belgium’s approachable appeal makes its bar to entry all the less imposing to its collection of mostly relaxed music.
We start our journey with alt rockers Arid, who after being losing finalists of the prestigious Humo’s Rock Rally contest back in 1996 have gone from strength to strength over the last decade and a half.
Unlike their name, Aird have a wonderfully rich sound, with lead singer Jasper Steverlinck having a gorgeously tender voice, all raw emotion with a tone almost akin to Thom Yorke, with trailing notes and wailing choruses.
Although Arid aren’t afraid to strip it all back to simply a piano and vocal, the band work best when stretching their wings with big, sweeping pop ballads.
The dichotomy between Steverlinck’s vocal and the upbeat pop backing makes for compelling listening for anyone who has ever dipped into the pool of Coldplay, Snow Patrol or Elbow.
Hooverphonic on the other hand are at the absolute other end of the tempo scale, purposefully going out of their way to slow the world down to their pace. When a group does it as well as Hooverphonic too, it’s hard to disagree with them.
Specialising in the trip-hop sound brought into the public consciousness by Massive Attack, the three pieces from Sint-Niklaas offer a sound that can only be described as dreamy. Light and airy as a cloud, the vocal wafts its way through the soothing
That’s not to say that they simply tread the same path as their contemporaries, with Hooverphonic pulling out the odd trick al of their own. The World is Mine features a big brass backing while Expedition Impossible manages to mix snarling guitars with the bands more usual keyboards and floaty vocal.
It’s not all been sweet dreams for Hooverphonic though, as back in 2008, singer Geike Arnaert deciding to leave the band. Only now have Hooverphonic come back, with both new vocalist and, in fact, a much grander, string based sound. Maybe the time off has helped the remaining duo find a new angle of attack.
Continuing the thread of relaxation we come to dEUS, one of Belgium’s longest running chart toppers, having been putting out hits since the mid-nineties and gathering both fans and awards with their experimental pop rock sound.
While it’s easiest to label dEUS as indie rock, the Antwerp based collective are far more interesting than most navel gazing entrants into the genre, far more willing to wander out of the genre supposed comfort zone, much like recent luminaries White Lies.
The band have always tested out different sounds though, looking far and wide for influences and inclusions. dEUS have even included a banjo or two in their time. It makes for wonderful variety in their music.
Throughout the years the band’s members have come and gone quicker than the average London bus, all apart from lead singer and, of all things, violinist Tom Barman and Klass Janzoons respectively. The constant movement even resulted in the band taking a three year hiatus to let its members pursue other projects.
Since their re-birth in 2004 though, dEUS have truly hit their stride, with their next four albums all topping the Belgian charts, after their original era failed to produce a chart topping album.
Every now and again though, an artist can simply shake off the supposed shackles of European obscurity and hit the international scene like a sledgehammer. Selah Sue is winding up a swing of that metaphorical hammer.
Nearly alternating between intricate, beat laden tracks and songs stripped back to just Selah (real name Sanne Putseys), her freshman attempt, a self-titled, dozen tracked album, is a phenomenal piece of work. Gorgeous, small and sincere songs like I Truly Loved Ya stand hand in hand with far jazzier pieces like Crazy Vibes.
Selah Sue’s emotion comes from the heart too, with all but a single track on her debut written by her own hand. That they manage to be both incredibly complex yet never overbearingly so is a real triumph from a debutant, even one as accomplished and ambitious as Putseys. That she began song writing at the age of 15 might help that just a little bit though.
The album was a massive success for Selah Sue commercially too, shooting to number one in Belgium, going platinum four times over, as well as securing platinum status in France and winning Selah Sue a prestigious European Border Breaker Award last year.
An even more funky Paloma Faith, Selah is on the very cusp of superstardom, with a fantastic reggae blues voice that makes her stand so far away from the pack, she’s not even mentionable in the same paragraph. Make sure you jump on the train now before it takes off for the moon.
If you think we’ve left the best from Brussels off our quick look, let us know in the comments below.
FemaleFirst Cameron Smith