Album Releases

Rise In Love

Album Releases, Press Releases, Recensies NL, Reviews, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

Rise In Love (P)review NL:

Net als zijn helden Neil Young en Bob Dylan, houdt ook onze Nederlandse trots Ad Vanderveen zich niet aan de algemeen geldende muziekwetten. Dat leidt ertoe dat hij inmiddels al meer dan dertig albums heeft uitgebracht. Die variëren in kwaliteit van oké tot goed tot ronduit briljant. Nu is er Rise In Love, een woordspeling op Fall In Love, en het titelnummer is een klassieker in de dop. Ook de overige acht hoopvolle liedjes mogen er zijn. Het geheel doet, qua geluid, soms denken aan de hoogtijdagen van Buffalo Springfield. Hoe dan ook, Rise In Love is een prachtplaat en een welkome aanvulling op het imposante oeuvre van de zwaar onderschatte Ad Vanderveen. (Door Frans Lomans)

Album notes ENG:

Instead of falling, let’s rise in love. 
When I heard this it stuck with me immediately and it wasn’t long before it turned into a song.
I think we say fall in love because when this happens we forget about ourselves, only the other exists. That’s what the power of love does, it makes us want to give and forget about getting.

Mostly we associate it with one particular person, but over time this power can transform and grow from a personal level into a more universal one. 
When this happens it can start encompassing all and everything, from near and dear ones to neighbors, to country, the planet, and beyond. It is a spiritual process that is individual and undoubtedly it also helps to make the world a better place.

This is like a thread running through the songs on Rise In Love, the album’s core content.
As for outer forms, it’s hard to say how it translates through the music and spheres. 
I’ve heard people say the tone is melancholic and moving. I’ve also even heard it said there is a hit-single quality to some of the songs, though I think we can keep that secret. 

Rise In Love is a colorfully orchestrated album and the basis of it is clearly rooted in folk, keeping the song with vocal and acoustic guitar or piano center stage. 

Release on April 19th on CD and streaming platforms.

Rise In Love NL:

Instead of falling, let’s rise in love. 
Deze regel kwam binnen bij singer-songwriter Ad Vanderveen en het duurde niet lang voordat het een song werd, de titelsong van een album dat gaat over liefde in vele facetten en fases.

Meestal associeren we liefde met één bepaalde persoon maar het gevoel kan ook een universelere vorm aannemen en veel meer gaan omvatten – naasten, buren, land, de planeet en misschien zelfs daarbuiten.
Volgens Vanderveen is het een intern proces van groei dat, hoewel het zeer individueel is, ook de wereld als geheel ten goede komt. Dit thema loopt door Rise In Love en komt door de songs heen terug.

Qua muziek en sfeer is het album afwisselend – er zijn stemmige ballads en langer uitgesponnen werk, en er zijn ook compacte songs die volgens ingewijden zelfs een hitsingle kwaliteit hebben.
Niet dat op zoiets overigens ingezet zal worden – er is in deze niche geen uitgebreide marketing en promotie campagne en de ophef en tam-tam die daarmee gepaard gaan passen volgens de singer-songwriter ook niet bij de inhoud. “De plaat kan het beste voor zichzelf spreken en de rest laten we over aan de natuurwetten van aantrekking – like attracts like”, aldus Vanderveen.

De muziek op Rise In Love is kleurrijk georkestreerd maar blijft dicht bij huis, geworteld in de folk traditie van stem met akoestische gitaar of piano. Zoals we gewend zijn van Ad Vanderveen staat de song centraal en de muziek dient de inhoud.

Rise In Love staat gepland voor release op 19 april 2024, met CD distributie via Coast To Coast en streaming via alle platforms. 

Rise In Love short:

New album coming April 19th 2024. 

Songs about love in many facets and phases.

Ranging from personal to more universal levels.

Colorfully orchestrated around vocal and acoustic guitar or piano in compact songs and longer pieces.

Rise In Love tracklist:

1 Rise In Love

2 Can’t Cross Over

3 Why Wonder Why

4 Good life

5 Where Does Love Belong

6 What Is It

7 One More Goodbye

8 Homesick

9 Forgiveness

10 Best for Last

All songs by Ad Vanderveen © 2024 Songsense Music

Produced by Pete Fisher and Ad Vanderveen

Ad Vanderveen: vocal, guitars, piano, harmonica, banjo, mandola

Kersten de Ligny: harmony vocal, percussion

Jan Erik Hoeve: pedal steel, harmony vocal

Rene Kaay: mellotron

Michael Kay: drums, percussion

Pete Fisher: bass

Per Hu: strings

Photography by Kiddo and Benjamin VanderVeen

Samos Sessions & Golden Verses

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A special new and very atmospheric EP is coming, titled: ‘Samos Sessions & Golden Verses’.
It is centered around songs about, and containing, ancient teachings by the Pythagorians.
Featuring recordings made on the island of Samos – Greece, in a chapel, in a cave, with additional recording in the studio, it runs a total of 25 minutes in 3 songs.

A 16+ minute trance-folk rendition of the Golden Verses was originally planned to be included on the forthcoming CD release ‘Rise In Love’. But it felt better at home in a stand-alone environment with other songs relating to the topic of timeless philosophy.

The EP will be streaming on all platforms in mid March and will be available on CD on March 19 ’24.
Downloads via Bandcamp will be up too: https://advanderveen.bandcamp.com

Notes on Samos Sessions & Golden Verses:

As we probably all have experienced, sometimes there is a sense of being overcome by a miraculous familiarity, with a person or a place, that for some reason draws you in.
The island of Samos, Greece is a home-away-from-home for us since visiting there for the first time in 2008 at the invitation from a musician-friend who got to know my songs and played them there. 
There was an inexplicable pull that kept us returning there again and again in the years that followed, like a notion of some long lost memory of home. 

Through those years I came to learn more and more about the island’s most revered historic figure Pythagoras, the great master philosopher, mystic, mathematician, musician, astrologer and many more titles that he may be given. 
It fascinated me to find out that he was so much more than the mathematician he is mostly remembered as, a key figure in ancient philosophy that has shaped western thinking and civilization, strongly influencing Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the early Stoics, Jesus Christ, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius and many who came after. 

As I read more and more, I felt inspired to write, and intrigued to visit the place where he lived and taught – a cave high up in mount Kerkis – and despite my fear of heights I felt compelled to even record a song (Song From Pythagoras’ Cave) up there. 
Another recording scene was set in a chapel on a hill that had the right ambience for a song (Believe) I had written on the subject of ancient wisdom that was passed on down the line from Samos.

The culmination, however, was later when I came upon the Golden Verses – Pythagoras’ teachings summarized by his followers in 71 verses, which tallied with the Eastern philosophy that I was familiar with, and rang like timeless truth and lofty goals to try and live by.
For probably the same inexplicable reason as all our visits, I felt the urge to try and set these words to music in an improvised manner that would leave the text free and center-stage. 

The Golden Verses can be broken down into two parts: 1-47 for practical guidelines and 48-71 for spiritual guidelines. 
This outline was roughly followed in the rendition that became the recording, with only a shift in part 2 from a minor to a major chord, keeping a hypnotic cadence going.

Sometimes the verses need clarification of words and expressions whose meanings have changed through time and translation. 
As an example: the frequently used word ‘Daemon’ here denotes divine intermediate, while the English translation came to be associated with something diabolic. 
For more context on this and a transcript of the verses themselves I would like to refer to the Harvard university documents found here: https://people.math.harvard.edu/~knill/various/eterosego/pythagoras_verses.pdf

Announcing: Only Olney

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Ad Vanderveen Only Olney CD front

Preorders now through STORE page, CDs available on sept. 22.

Tracklist:

1 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

2 Women Across The River

3 If My Eyes Were Blind

4 Little Bit Of Poison

5 Vincent’s Blues

6 If It Wasn’t For The Wind

7 Jerusalem Tomorrow

8 Little Bird (What I Do)

9 Millionaire

10 Mister Vermeer

11 Sad Saturday Night

 

Ad Vanderveen & Guests

AV: vocal, guitars, mandola, harmonica, piano / Iain Matthews: vocal, guitar on If My Eyes Were Blind – Little Bit Of Poison – If It Wasn’t For The Wind / Kersten de Ligny: vocal, percussion / Freek de Jonge: guest vocal on Little Bird / Hella de Jonge:violin on Little Bird / Raphael Dudukas: oriental guest vocal on Jerusalem Tomorrow / Willie Ahrend: nylon string guitar / Jan Erik Hoeve: pedal steel, vocal on If It Wasn’t for the Wind and Sad Saturday Night, and David Olney: ghost vocal on If My Eyes Were Blind

AV notes:

Upon first meeting David Olney in 1993, I was awestruck by his music and personality and I instantaneously felt a connection that seemed to be mutual, to my surprise. I was a youngish singer songwriter taking the first steps on a solo path after having played in numerous bands, and David set a towering example for me rightaway. His playing, singing, writing and performing were what I wished I’d be able to do. His guitar playing fascinating, authorative, simple and sophisticated, especially in contrast with the raw directness of his voice. His lyrics so layered, captivating and touching on many levels at once. His performance so cool and real, stirring, vulnerable, rough and funny. He embodied all that a troubadour, craftsman and traveling minstrel should be for me.

I’ve been lucky to meet with David and work with him on many occasions since that first encounter. All over the world our paths have crossed, sometimes planned and sometimes spontaneous – on stage, in the studio, or at home at my place or his. Each time was a memorable and unique experience. He was a teacher to me, although we never consciously acknowledged that kind of roleplay. I suppose you could say – like in the world of classical music – I studied under David Olney. I’m happy that along our trails we’ve left some marks together, some living on as recorded musical souvenirs on CD.

Since David is no longer here to bring his songs to us, I have felt like trying on some of them, some I feel that fit me, although his shoes are too big to fill; there are some songs that suit me and feel like my own. 
I guess what I set out to do with these recordings is keeping that feeling alive that grabbed me right from the start in 1993. 

With the help of some good friends I’m glad to have captured some performances I feel are worthy of carrying on a part of David’s great heritage. I want to thank Iain Matthews, he and I shared quite a few adventures with David over the years and he brought some of these songs to the table.
Many thanks to all the other wonderful friends who sang and played on these songs, it has been a true joy.

Only Olney is set for a september 22 ’23 release. Stay tuned for details.

Heart Of Every Town double CD

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AV Preview / interview Heart Of Every Town

2023 will see the release of Heart Of Every Town, a double CD by Ad Vanderveen.

The album features ten new original songs in two different settings.

Disc 1: Church is based on acoustic guitar with church organ. 
Disc 2: Pub is based on electric guitar with band (The O’Neils’22)

Heart Of Every Town will be released March 3 2023.

More info and pre-orders on http://www.advanderveen.com/store now!

Live In Weimar ’22 – limited edition cd

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This recording so rocks that it wouldn’t stay on the shelf.

LOBESHYMNEN  LIVE WEIMAR ’22 – AD VANDERVEEN & THE O’NEILS

‘Lobeshymnen’ is what our German promoter said he heard after we played our show in Weimar on October 8th 2022, as the chills of autumn had descended on us and a few thousand people in the audience on the Platz der Demokratie.

It’s a word you would associate with the works of Bach, it means something like ‘praises’.

We thought it would make a great title for this Cd that marks our return as a band. It was great, chaotic and noisy to be back on stage in Weimar where we played so many times over the past 20 years. A few years ago I swore to never play electric band shows again but what do I know, here we are. We celebrated that our spirits, chops, instincts, hands and ears were still intact and we would like to invite you along with this live document, hoping you will be part of the same feeling.

Thanks go to Dirk Böttcher for initiating and organising, to Dominico Sneider for recording, and to all the fans for showing up. 

AV, November 2022.

Tracklist:

1 Last Venture

2 Uphill

3 First Feeling

4 All The Waiting

5 Wildfire

6 Light Of Day

7 The Moment That Matters

8 Lost In Lederhosen

9 Denver Nevada

10 Melancholy Blues

11 Water Under The Bridge

Total playing time: 73 min.

With:

Ad Vanderveen: vocal, guitars, harmonica

Kersten de Ligny: vocal, autoharp, percussion

Jan Erik Hoeve: pedal steel, vocal

Timon van Heerdt: bass, vocal

Roel Overduin: drums, vocal

AVON Weimar '22
AVON Weimar’22 front

Layaway EP

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For those unfamiliar; an article that is laid away and kept apart for later collection – with or without a down payment, is called a layaway. It’s also the title of a small group of songs I recorded during Covid isolation, keeping the wheels in motion. 

Picking up instruments that were new to me and learning to play them on familiar songs, I was also joined by old friends – some of them live and some at long distance.

Molding the soundscape and atmosphere that became the template for the Cd ‘Candle To You’, these recordings were then laid away for some time. 

On revisiting them we thought they should be taken home and made available now.

A streaming only 7-song EP release is set for August 19 2022 on all digital platforms. Better sound quality download available HERE: https://advanderveen.bandcamp.com/album/layaway

Layaway trackist:

1 Keep Me In Your Heart (Warren Zevon)

2 I Was Hank Williams ( Ad Vanderveen)

3 Angel Of Death (Hank Williams)

4 Rex’s Blues (Townes Van Zandt)

5 Love & Music (Ad Vanderveen)

6 The Long Way Round (Ad Vanderveen)

7 If I Needed You (Townes Van Zandt)

With: AV:vocal, mandola, banjo, guitar, harmonica / Kersten de Ligny: vocal, autoharp / Jan Erik Hoeve: pedal steel, banjo / Neil James Morrison: violin, viola, mandolin / Daniel Shergold: bass / Timon van Heerdt: bass, vocal / Michael Kay: percussion / Simon Moore: keyboards

Layaway EP front

Candle To You new album press sheet

Album Releases, Interviews, Press Releases, Uncategorized

Ad Vanderveen – Candle To You

(Introductory notes by Jon C. Ireson / Music-News)

In the realm of modern folk rock, two men stand as pillars influencing the generations who follow. Bob Dylan took the influence of Woody Guthrie and Hank Williams and through the magical transformation of the Greenwich Village stages, made it speak to millions of young adults grasping for sense in senseless times. 

Neil Young rose to fame riding a wave of psychedelia with Buffalo Springfield operating out of L.A.’s famous Laurel Canyon. Yet, in his formative years on the Canadian Great Plains, Young drew a lot from Dylan’s early folk masterpieces. Once the great wave of the ’60s broke, Young would turn hard to folk in the ’70s writing some of his most enduring classics. 

Today, there is a great deal of that DNA in any given performer that takes up the acoustic guitar to bare their soul. 

Amsterdam-based Ad Vanderveen may have been born thousands of miles from Ohio or Ontario, Minnesota or Manhattan but the man has the lineage of these folk troubadours in his blood. This must have something to do with his Canadian family. On his latest record Release, Vanderveen powerfully and effectively channels the two greats, blending their sonic traits with his own worldly personality to create an album that hits all the right notes of nostalgia, reflection, love, and sense of home that a great folk record should.

This is an artist who studied under the best in his field and with that same energy, produced a welcoming, wistful, and wise entry in the tradition of great folk music. 

Candle To You comes on the heels of the internationally acclaimed 2021 album Release. It offers ten new songs with a distinct sonic signature and atmosphere that is slightly different from Vanderveen’s other work.

AV on Candle To You: “The title-track can be considered a humble dedication to both men mentioned above, as well as some other heroes who came before. A tribute while still alive, if you will. As a child of the sixties, growing up in the second line of that revolutionary generation, I see myself as a carrier of the same flame. I’m grateful to see those greats in the frontline still ahead out there today.”

“While some songs are typically acoustic guitar based, a lot of this album was written on the mandola – the mandolin’s older sister,” the singer further explains. ”Exploring this instrument led to new horizons and different harmonic settings that seem to emphasize the spaciousness and fluidity in my music.” 

Add to that some joyful reunions with old friends on pedal steel, violin/viola, electric guitar, bass and drums/percussion, and harmony vocals and the result is a natural, open and spontaneous sounding production that marks a sense of renewal within the singer-songwriter’s oeuvre.

As said above, music never comes out of nowhere and is always influenced and inspired by those who came before, but lyrics are something else and Ad Vanderveen very much has his own story to tell. It’s a story of a lifelong search that has a sense of home running through it. One can suspect that over the years he has been closing in on something, although it’s not spelled out literally what that is. It’s a quest of the spirit that holds a promise of finding and coming home, a feeling that many – consciously or subconsciously – may relate to.

The poetry always central to Vanderveen’s work often hints at a bigger picture, expressed through every day events and language, with subjects relevant in any grown-up’s life like; love on individual and universal levels, longing, loss, transience, and acceptance.

With: Ad Vanderveen: vocal, guitars, mandola, harmonica, footstomp / Kersten de Ligny: harmony vocal / Jan Erik Hoeve: pedal steel / Neil James Morrison: violin, viola / Pete Fisher: bass, percussion / Michael Kay: drums, percussion / Simon Moore: keyboards / Philip Kroonenberg: guest vocal on 3 

Track list:

1 Do What You Love 2 Following The Wind 3 Over Time 4 Candle To You 5 Last Venture 6 All The Way Thing 7 Window In The Rain 8 Miss That World 9 Exit Inside 10 Air Guitar 

Concert Registration CD

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Ad Vanderveen Quartet – Concert Registration 

A limited edition live CD is available of the July 4th AV Quartet concert at Tivoli/Vredenburg, Utrecht.

It’s an authorized bootleg simply titled Concert Registration – recorded the classical way with mics capturing the hall acoustics. The digipack contains the full repertoire of 16 songs played and clocks in at 73 minutes. 

No downloads, no streaming, just a limited pressing for those missing the live music experience.

Available now, orders via email: info@advanderveen.com 

Tracklist:

1 Release

2 One Last Song

3 Wildfire

4 Fickle Mind

5 I Was Hank Williams

6 Angel Of Death

7 Denver Nevada

8 Lonely Family

9 Man Of Few Words

10 Nothing But A Dream

11 Ol’56

12 All The Waiting

13 Mystery

14 If I Needed You

15 Following The wind

16 Melancholy Blues

Liner notes:

After a year and a half of mostly playing at home, writing and recording 2 albums, and doing only occasional shows during the pandemic isolation, our world seemed ready to slowly open up again in the summer of 2021.

On July 4 we set out to do 2 shows of 2 sets each for different audiences at TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht – in Hertz, a concert hall acoustically designed for classical, mostly chamber music. 

The Quartet – consisting of Kersten de Ligny on vocals, autoharp, percussion / Timon van Heerdt on bass / Jan Erik Hoeve on pedal steel and banjo, and myself on vocal, guitar, mandola, harmonica, footstomp– played in an intimate setting for only 50 people at a time.

This recording was made the classical way, only using the microphones capturing the hall acoustics. No close individual close miking, except from the delicately amplified stage sound filling the house. The result is an ambient registration and a natural, airy atmosphere just like the audience and the band heard it that night. 

Playing a lot of new material, featuring songs from the current album ‘Release’, it felt like a release indeed to share music in the moment and interact with an audience again.

We decided to line up the complete repertoire that was played as a full concert registration and hope  it will be a welcome item in these times of live music scarcity.

AV, July 2021.