When the album was released in Novem- ber of last year, expectations were realistic: selling a few thousand copies would be an excellent result for Zeal Records, the very small, one-man indie label from Leuven. Almost one year later, 10,000 copies of the debut album have been shipped to homes all over the Benelux. And it will be released in other territories, like Germany, Australia and Japan.

Vandewoude is, of course, delighted, but also down-to-earth. Unless Isbells tops the charts in those exotic countries, they won't be touring there. Not that they're in need of gigs: after a spring and summer loaded with festival appearances in Belgium and the Netherlands, they're embarking this week on a concert tour. It's quite a long way from last year's second gig ever, for less than 10 people, organisers included.

I meet Vandewoude, the band's mainstay, at home in a small hamlet on the border between Limburg, Flemish Brabant and Liège. He dreams of turning the stables that came with the house into a record- ing studio, but for the time being he has converted just one small room, these days cramped with instruments and a huge mixing console. This is the place where he wrote and recorded the songs for Isbells, a melancholic album with folky, sparsely arranged music.

"I recorded it mostly at night, while my wife and daughter were sleeping," he confides. "It best suited the atmosphere of the music, but also there are no phone calls or emails to answer, and almost no noise is seeping in. Although, if you listen carefully, you might, on a few songs, hear a car driving by."

Vandewoude (second from right in photo) is a veteran of the Flemish independent music scene, playing in different bands, including Soon, which met with some fame a few years ago. "Although music has always been extremely important to me and it led to some great experiences, like mixing a Soon album in London or play- ing at Pukkelpop, I never fully engaged," he concedes.

Two years ago, he decided to get serious. "I turned 30 and decided to go all out. If not, I probably would have regretted it for the rest of my life." Vandewoude quit his job at Ikea and started writing songs. "I was a man with a plan: making a CD with my music," he chuckles. "I started writing as many songs as possible, recorded them in a demo and went out looking for musi- cians."

Enter Bart Borremans, Naïma Joris en Gianni Marzo. "They are great musicians, but it was as important that we hit it off on a personal level, too," says Vandewoude. Artists that resonate in the band's music are Nick Drake, Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver, although Vandewoude stresses that only the latter was a source of inspiration. Strik- ingly, those sweet sadcore gems Vande- woude pens differ greatly from what Soon - or other rock outfits he played in - delivered.

"My vocals are the most distinctive element to Isbells' sound, but it sounds atrocious when I try to sing loudly," he says. "So, when I take my acoustic guitar and start singing, I automatically resort to a high pitch." He still plays rock music, for that matter, with Soon. "I need variation," he smiles.

Vandewoude writes personal lyrics "rooted in my life but not necessarily autobiographical." A good example is "Time's Ticking", with its ominous: "You gotta go / Cause I don't need you anymore / You gotta go / And there is nothing left to fight for."

"I've been together with the love of my youth, Elke, for 15 years. But in the past few years, six or seven relationships in my close circle of friends fell to pieces. That makes you think. Elke always assumes a new song is about her, and when she heard "Time's Ticking" for the first time, she turned really pallid," he remembers. "But I reassured her it was not about us," he smiles. "Now that incident makes us laugh."

Meanwhile, from the song "Dreamer": "Your prayers will be heard the moment you start believing." Vandewoude: "I'm really convinced of that. The song is about me jumping into the void by choosing fully for music. You always have to believe 100% in what you do. And look: my dream has come true."

"No matter how grim the lyrics sometimes are," he concludes, "they always end with at least a glimmer of hope."

25 September, 20.00
De Warande Warandestraat 42 Turnhout
See website for a complete list of concert dates
www.isbells.be