Amatorski: Change is good
After an English premiere of their new song, Ghent-based band Amatorski are releasing their second album, From Clay to Figures
A new direction
“It was a great feeling,” says guitar player Sebastiaan Van Den Branden. He is realistic, though: “It doesn’t mean every British music lover is going to buy our album.”
But they do have more famous fans: Internationally rising star Stromae named Amatorski one of his three favourite bands from the country. The rumour that they refused an invitation to be the support act on one of his gigs, however, is wrong. Van Den Branden: “It was a wild idea of our booking agent to try to set this up, but we didn’t follow up on it.”
Singer and keyboard player Inne Eysermans chips in: “Not that we don’t like Stromae’s music – quite the opposite – but it’s a whole different vibe.” That’s certainly true. Who would they like to open for, if they could follow their wildest dreams? They answer in unison: “Damon Albarn. Every day of the week.”
Amatorski formed six years ago when Van Den Branden and Eysermans met at Ghent’s music conservatory. When the band first rose to fame, reaching the finale of the über-popular Humo’s Rock Rally in 2010, they were a foursome. Only Eysermans and Van Den Branden are still on board. Last year, bass player Hilke Ros decided to concentrate fully on her duties as the band’s manager.
Floating in the borderland
“It happened naturally. It’s not like we had musical differences,” Van Den Branden says. They have just added a new drummer to their line-up, Christophe Claeys. In the recording studio, they’re a duo, onstage a trio.
Amatorski got their name from Amator, in English known as Camera Buff, a film by the Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski. “An amateur is occupied with something that he or she really likes,” explains Eysermans. Three years ago, they released their debut, TBC; the follow-up, From Clay to Figures, has just hit the streets.
The songs have become less musing, sound less vulnerable and float in the borderland between intimate electronic music, moony, piano-driven pop songs and dismayed but restrained guitars.
It felt great to continually try out something new
The new tunes are less experimental than the previous ones, and Eysermans sings increasingly confidently. The somewhat new direction stems from the different projects Amatorski have embarked on over the past three years. One of them was accompanying Impatience, a mid-length silent feature film from 1928 by Brussels director Charles Dekeukeleire.
Van Den Branden: “After that, we wrote the soundtracks for the television series 1 op 10 (1 in 10) and the Dutch feature film In jouw naam (In Your Name). And we released some songs on compilations. All this gave us the chance to experiment freely. It felt great to continually try out something new.” Eysermans adds: “All those other projects really had an influence on the band: Musically, Sebastiaan and I have grown closer to each other.”
The change isn’t only the consequence of different circumstances, it’s also the result of some deliberate choices. Eysermans insists they want to change with every record, and Van Den Branden puts this drive down to their curiosity. Eysermans says, “My greatest fear is that one day we won’t realise anymore that we’re repeating ourselves.”
Aiming further
The singer points out another difference: “My lyrics are less abstract than on TBC.” Still, as a lyricist she’s more an impressionist than a straightforward storyteller. “For this album, I was inspired by Flemish author Saskia De Coster. She mentioned once that the plot is not the most important thing; characters dynamics and what happens in-between story elements are much more interesting. I feel the same when I watch a film or listen to music.”
The band likes De Coster’s books, and she likes their music. She even wrote the lyrics for the new song “Deer the Wood”. “It’s not a first,” explains Esyermans. “She has also written lyrics for Dez Mona and Daan. She gave me the lyrics and told me I could use them however I wanted. We worked together to edit them a bit for a musical context.” Both parties are happy with the result and are planning to work together again in the future.
I’m much more interested in the dynamics of a character or in what happens in between the story elements
Amatorski’s debut TBC was self-released, but with From Clay to Figures they have signed to Crammed Discs, the vivid, Brussels-based independent label. Van Den Branden says: “This time around, we’re aiming further than the Benelux, so we needed some support. Crammed isn’t a major label, but it’s big enough to help us fulfil our ambitions.”
As well as in the Benelux, the record has been released in France, Germany, Italy and the UK. The United States will follow later this month. The idea is that they will also tour there in the future. There’s certainly a potential audience waiting for them, as their Deleting Borders project has proved: Around 100,000 people have visited deletingborders.com, where you can personalise an Amatorski song.
Using the internet as both a creative marketing tool and an artistic outlet has become part of Amatorski’s identity. In the run-up to the release of From Clay to Figures, the band launched unlock.amatorski.be: Every time someone clicked on the site, a millisecond of a new song was given free, until the whole song was online.
Being inventive musically and in the way they present their music: That’s the essence of Amatorski.
Amatorski play the Les Nuits Botanique festival in Brussels on 21 May
Photo: GusAndStella
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