WATCH: Christof van der Ven - 'rock salt / driftwood'

All hail our indie-folk king, Christof van der Ven. A long-time firm favourite artist of the blog and a generally lovely person, I'm always delighted when he shares some new music. This morning I found new track rock salt / driftwood waiting for me on my morning commute and very much enjoyed, before taking a dive into his recent releases. What's In It For remains a beaaaaaut of a track. 

The new one follows recent tracks polaroid and For The Ages and is taken (I think... optimistically) from an as yet unannounced new album, which I'm expecting might arrive later this year. (I can speak it into existence, right?) 

If the live video above whets you're appetite, Christof is headed out on tour in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and England in May, with a show at London's Sebright Arms on 8th May. Full dates and tickets are available here.

While I'm here, I also have to direct your attention to this stunning performance of We Didn't Know We Were Ready from Christof, Ólafur Arnalds, The Staves, Memorial, Dermot Kennedy, Niamh Regan and more on RTÉ in honour of their friend Eoin French, who released music as Talos. Truly one of the most moving things I've seen in a long time.

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LISTEN: Christof van der Ven - 'For The Ages'

If I haven't made it clear over the years: I've got an overwhelming amount of love for Christof van der Ven's music. (He's a great human too.) It feels that each new track he releases finds a route straight to my heart and soul... there's always such a deep connection, so much emotion. And they're just reaaaaaally great. Every. Single. Time!

His next album (I'm manifesting) is one of my most anticipated... and the release of new track For The Ages gives me hope that news of that might not be far off... but for now, I'll take this. It's a stunner, and you're all going to love this as much as I do.

Whether you're a firm fan of Christof, or he's a new artist for you, you'll want to see him live, and you're in luck - he's doing a short run of dates in the UK in November, taking in Bristol's Exchange (26th), London's Sebright Arms (27th) and Leeds' Cardigan Arms (28th) - tickets on sale here.

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LISTEN: Christof van der Ven - 'I Can Only Get So Close'

Just when I needed a little bit of inspiration for some writing... the year continues to deliver the dreamiest of returns. This week, I'll mostly be listening to the new Half Moon Run and Christof van der Ven tracks back to back. Toooooooo good. 

Christof is back with his first original music since his 2019 record You Were The Place - new track I Can Only Get So Close is taken from the Haul EP, due 21st April. If you're unfamiliar with his solo music, you might know Christof as a member of the Bear's Den touring band, and this one is very much a BD fan's dream. With Ian Grimble on producing duties, and contributions from Kev Jones, Jools Owen and Tommy Heap, the track is a long-time-coming collaboration between Christof and BD frontman Andrew Davie.

The track's origins go back years, when the pair were living together in North London - Christof shares "one night, listening to music, I played the banjo part for Davie, which later became the song's intro. Soon he created an acoustic guitar part, but the song took time to fully form." Coming together during the pandemic, it's been a long process, but I'd say this one is definitely worth the wait!

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LISTEN: Jolé & Christof van der Ven - 'Bygone'

Well, this is a bit lovely, isn't it?! A joy to find a collaboration from Jolé and Christof van der Ven in my inbox a couple of weeks ago. I'll take any new Christof music where I can get it, and a collaborative project with Jolé, entitled Great Parade, is an exciting new chapter, born via a meeting through mutual friends and an instant desire to write music together. First single Bygone is taken from an EP due to be announced later this year. Beautifully blending the complimentary sounds and voices of both artists, it's an indie folk/electronica mix, pulsating and soothing in equal measure. 

On the track, the pair explain: "Bygone was written as a memory of the younger us and the way we grow up forgetting the small moments of youth and childhood. We can often take for granted those memories as we age but also stop and reflect on what we had, to remind ourselves that life can be simple in the best ways." 

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LISTEN: Christof van der Ven - 'Reworks' EP

There seems to be a little trend for reworked or reimagined tracks at the moment (at least, among artists I listen to) and I am here for it as long as tracks I love keep on getting new leases of life. Christof van der Ven has just shared his new EP, entitled Reworks, which features four tracks from across his musical career so far, stripped back and set to piano. The EP was recorded over lockdown in Christof's flat, and mixed by Scott Humphries. Add in some vocals from Camilla Staveley-Taylor (The Staves) and Jed Parsons, string arrangements from Rob & Verity Simmons, and synth wizardly from very clever human Marcus Hamblett (of far too many cool bands to list) and you have something genuinely really special. 

Already released in the world were gorgeous versions of You Left It Too Long and Coat. Saving the best until last, arguably, we now have new versions of Big Men At Heart, one of my favourite tunes of Christof's taken from last year's Beneath the Ordinary Load EP and the absolute treat for the ears, first album title track Empty Handed. On first listen to this a few weeks ago, the duet with Camilla gave me actual shivers. Those harmonies. Yes. (Did I mention The Staves are bringing out a new record and I'm really really excited for it?!) 

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WATCH: Christof van der Ven - 'You Left It Too Long (Rework)'

Having just celebrated the first birthday of his second album You Were The Place (they grow up SO FAST), the all round lovely (and almost frustratingly talented) human being Christof van der Ven is back with new music - sort of. The Reworks EP is due on 30th October, featuring piano versions of four tracks from his catalogue made with friends, including Jed Parsons and Camilla Staveley-Taylor of The Staves, earlier in the year. The first to be released is You Left It Too Long, one of the first Christof tunes that I discovered (and loved) a few years back, and probably still one of my favourites. On this one, Christof's pal and Bear's Den bandmate Marcus Hamblett is working some sweet sweet magic on the modular synths. The video, below, is a rework of the original video for the track, with 8mm film footage shot on a holiday in Ireland and Scotland played in reverse. Clever, I like it.

On the origins of the EP, Christof says... "like many others, I soon realised that I had much more free time than usual and I started to look back at songs that I had written at different points in my life and tried to rework them to make them sound more like where I'm at now. I wrote the parts for these tracks on MIDI, but since I can't really play the piano and wasn't able to get someone to record them properly at the time, I decided to use a good piano plugin instead. It's cheating but piano plugins these days just sound good and it was a great alternative when people were limited in their movements! When some of the restrictions were lifted my good friend and sound engineer Scott Humphries came over to my flat where we finished recorded and mixing the EP." 

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WATCH: Christof van der Ven - 'Lucky'

Ah, Christof van der Ven. Legend. If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram you might have seen that back in May, I was lucky to be made into art by Christof. For my best pal's birthday, he recreated a selfie of us - see the masterpiece here. When he's not busy creating gorgeous art on paper, or cooking tutorials on Youtube, he releases some equally stunning music and has an EP on the way, exciting news! 

As a celebration of Bandcamp Friday last week, he shared the video for Lucky. Talking about the process behind the track online, Christof explained that when writing the record "I often retreated to this bench in Alexandra Park and for some reason I never read what was on the plaque. One day I wrote the start of Lucky and couldn't quite get a chorus and happened to read it. It reads "how lucky are we to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard". I was sold." 

The video's director Alex Cooper shares that "Christof and I really loved this idea of a guy unable to move on from his partner. He was stuck in a time warp, as Lucky, for me, is all about moving from a place where you’re sad it’s ended, to being happy it happened. I’ve realised in my own life that, after a while, the person keeping grief around was often me, so this video is about someone finally being able to let grief go.... B​ut making sure we did it in an often comical way, as we both felt that there’s always room for levity when talking about topics that can often feel very dark and heavy."

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My albums of the year (2019)

Frankly, 2020 can't come quickly enough - partly as it is bringing us a new Bombay Bicycle Club album and I am counting down each second until that is in my life. Beyond that, there are debuts from Seramic, Rhys Lewis and White Tail Falls to expect as well as new records from the likes of The Staves, Lucy Leave and The Big Moon - there's a lot to be excited about! Before all of that, however, it's time to look back on the music that I've been listening to this year with a round-up of my favourite albums of the year. I loved doing a post like this last year - when Novo Amor narrowly missed out on the top spot to the incredible Someone Out There from Rae Morris (you can catch up on last year's post here.)

As this blog is solely contributed to by me (hi!) the list is a bit of a self-indulgent reflection of the music that I've been loving this year. It's been a bit of a rollercoaster of a year, which kicked off with me being made redundant from my job at HMV back in February. I've traded music and films for a job as a bookseller now and I'm loving it, but I still miss being surrounded by music lovers every day. It has become even more important to me to have the blog to use as an outlet to ramble about the music that I love, and what follows below is five of the records that I've fallen in love with this year, with a further list of several more brilliant albums that I wanted to shout about.

1. Maggie Rogers - Heard It In A Past Life

Could there really be anybody else but Maggie Rogers in the top spot this year? Her incredible record has come to occupy a really special place in my heart. I first started listening to Maggie towards the end of 2018 when she was announced as tour support for Mumford & Sons. From then, my love for her grew with each new track that was released, and my anticipation for the record grew. The album itself arrived in January, while HMV was in administration and in the midst of a really confusing and stressful time for me. It is no exaggeration to say that it helped to ground me and bring me much needed joy through the experience of redundancy. I spent several weeks listening to the album at least once daily, finding new aspects of it to love with each listen.

I feel that it's worth noting that Heard It In A Past Life is Maggie's debut album, and as such it is even more impressive. She has recently been nominated for the Best New Artist Grammy award, the pinnacle of a whirlwind year of touring, huge TV appearances and a whole lot of dancing like nobody (or indeed, everybody) is watching. Given that I adore the album in its entirety, I struggle to pick a favourite track from it, but a stand-out track for me from the first few listens was Burning, so why not start there and then go on to check out the entire album. You can thank me later!

2. Friendly Fires - Inflorescent

Next up an in a really close second is an album that I spent a long time waiting for, worrying that it might never exist. I think even the band themselves couldn't be sure that they would make this record, but I am so incredibly glad that they did. Friendly Fires were one of my favourite bands of the early 2010s and I worried that I'd never get to see them play live when they took an extended hiatus several years ago. To my delight they returned in late 2017 and I was lucky to see their triumphant London return last April. Fast forward a year or so and the moment that I'd been waiting for... an album announcement. The wait was finally over in August, and it was more than worth it. I think that I probably annoyed some people with how much I couldn't stop talking about the album when it was released.

The record is an injection of pure joy in what is very often a pretty miserable world. Friendly Fires are back with their infectious energy, catchy hooks, incredible live shows and an album to fix all of our problems. Or possibly just to get us dancing - but that's a start. Again, I really adore the full record but my favourite track would probably have to be Silhouettes. A certified bop.

3. Bear's Den - So that you might hear me

Having been a big fan of Bear's Den for a few years, one of the coolest perks of running this little blog came earlier this year when I received a link to listen to their album and review it six weeks ahead of release. It arrived in my inbox while I was searching for a new job and feeling a little lost, and the album felt like something that I could keep to myself before it was released out into the world - it really came to mean a lot. I recall describing my review at the time as being like a love letter to the band. It sounds a little cliché to say that an album tangible helped you through a situation but it really did. I've been lucky to see the band live a few times this year in various settings (headlining a stage at Citadel Festival and the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire to name a couple) - it's been a Bear's Den kind of year and I'm very happy about that.

In their third studio album, we find the band enjoying the confidence that the success of previous records Islands and Red Earth & Pouring Rain brought, combining the acoustic and electric elements of both to explore new ground sonically. The record explores themes of intimacy and connection. with the band describing it as being about "trying to communicate with someone honestly [...] an attempt to reveal the honest and difficult challenge of communicating with anyone that you really care about." It is a gorgeous example of Davie's skills as a songwriter, bringing to life his story and those of others. A favourite track of mine is the opener Hiding Bottles, written about his relationship with a close family member with an alcohol addiction. From my first listen, the lyric "well I'm keeping it together but you don't know the half of it. It's starting to show, no I'm not on top of this" has really resonated with me.

4. Christof van der Ven - You Were The Place

In a way, Christof manages to make his way onto this list twice - he's a touring member of Bear's Den, creating some gorgeous solo music in the spare time that allows him. Having released his gorgeous debut album at the start of last year, he's the only artist to have been on both the 2018 and 2019 lists, and deservedly so. I really really love this album - and was lucky to have an early listen of this one too. With the album in 2018, an EP release at the start of this year and a busy tour schedule with BD I'm impressed at the rate at which he got this album out into the world - I feel lazy just thinking about all of that. Written in response to the end of a brief but intense fling, this is an incredibly personal, yet relatable, record from Christof. As you might expect it is sad in places, while being full of optimism and hope in others. Production from bandmate Marcus Hamblett is superb too - the finished record is raw and intimate and really deserving of a spot on the list.

5. Lucy Rose - No Words Left

After a little thought about who finished up my top five albums of the year my thoughts kept on returning to Lucy Rose and her fourth studio album. It is, in a word, sublime. In direct comparison to her previous records, this one is incredibly stripped back (centring around vocals, guitar, piano and strings) and is as a result stark and vulnerable. At the time of release Lucy wrote online that "these songs have allowed me to get to know myself in a way I haven't before and I'm sure after you listen to it you'll end up knowing me better as well." It is a record which explores issues of anxiety, isolation and uncertainty without sugarcoating anything, it is exactly the kind of record that I needed to hear this year. While I really connect with a number of lyrics across the record, my favourite track is perhaps The Confines Of This World, in which Lucy delivers the lines "I really don't mean to bring you down, But I need someone to talk to." 



Well done for making it this far - that's my top five albums of the year. I genuinely adore each of them, and will enjoy listening to them on repeat for years to come, I hope. It's been a bit of an up and down year for me and these albums have really helped to bring some light into my life when I've needed it. But I'm not finished there... there's been plenty more (in fact, more than I'd realised) that I have loved this year, so here is a bit more of a list (in release order) of albums that I really recommend you check out. You'll love them too, I hope!

Busted - Half Way There
Stella Donnelly - Beware of the Dogs
Foals - Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost (Part 1)
Jack Savoretti - Singing to Strangers
Fil Bo Riva - Beautiful Sadness
Pêtr Aleksänder - Closer, Still 
SOAK - Grim Town
Hailaker - Hailaker
Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride
Benedict Benjamin - Truant
Matthew and the Atlas - Morning Dancer
CHILDCARE - Wabi-Sabi  
Charlie Cunningham - Permanent Way
Bastille - Doom Days 
Two Door Cinema Club - False Alarm
The Black Keys - "Let's Rock"
Grace Lightman - Silver Eater
The Teskey Brothers - Run Home Slow 
Marika Hackman - Any Human Friend
Bon Iver - i,i 
Liz Lawrence - Pity Party
Geowulf - My Resignation 
Half Moon Run - A Blemish in the Great Light
Leif Vollebekk - New Ways
Marcus Hamblett - Detritus

LISTEN: Christof van der Ven - 'Live at RAK' EP

In 2019, Christof van der Ven has managed a kind of new release hat-trick. The legend. Back in March he released one of my favourite EPs of the year, Beneath The Ordinary Load, before returning in September (after a stretch of touring with Bear's Den) with the stunning record You Were The Place. As if those two weren't quite enough, he's recently shared the Live at RAK EP, which features the audio from some session videos that he recorded at the RAK Studios in London. Featuring a whole bunch of talented musicians from the Bear's Den and Matthew & the Atlas live bands and elsewhere, it's hard to imagine it being anything but completely beautiful, and it is. A highlight for me from the album and this EP is 4AM, which you can watch in the session video below.

Check out the full Live at RAK EP from Christof van der Ven here.

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WATCH: Christof van der Ven - 'Bravais Arc' (Live at RAK)

Even more glorious Christof van der Ven content coming your way today... I adore this guy, his music holds a really special place in my heart and the session videos that he recorded earlier in the year at RAK Studios are all proving to be a treat. With a band comprising of fellow Bear's Den live members, Matthew & The Atlas members and other talented friends, we've seen performances of 4AM and Lucky, and this time around new album opener Bravais Arc is in the spotlight and is sublime! Get watching...

If you like what you're hearing Christof is currently on tour to promote the new album You Were The Place - UK folk can catch him at Brighton's The Hope & Ruin on October 7th and London's The Lexington on the 8th.

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LISTEN: Rose Cousins - 'I Would Die 4 U'

It was a joy to find this track in my new release playlist on Friday... there's no hiding how much I love Bear's Den and Christof van der Ven, and I'm loving this gorgeous cover of a Prince track that they recorded with US artists Rose Cousins. In a moment of "serendipity" as Rose describes it, the band and Rose landed in Toronto at the same time in May and got together to record on a day off from touring. The result is a beautiful cover with sublime harmonies.

In her post online sharing the track, Rose wrote of Prince that "the legend died on my birthday. He was beyond bold and daring in all moves both in presenting himself physically and in his music. A ground breaker. But there's so much we never see and his death was so vulnerable and tragic. Hard to know anyone's whole story, isn't it? I love this song and these gentleman for using part of their day off to come sing with me. Enjoy." 

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LISTEN: Christof van der Ven - 'You Were The Place'

I am ridiculously excited by this one - Christof van der Ven releases his second solo album You Were The Place today on Planet Zog Records. Please do yourself a favour and set aside some time to listen to it. I'm impressed at how quickly this album has come into our lives - juggling work as a chef, solo musician and playing live with Bear's Den, Christof made his way onto my albums of the year list last year with his debut Empty Handed. He's already released one of my favourite EPs of this year in the shape of Beneath The Ordinary Load and somewhere between that and some pretty extensive touring with the Bear's Den guys, he found time to recruit a talented ensemble of musical friends and create this record.

You Were The Place was recorded, produced and mixed by Christof's Bear's Den bandmate Marcus Hamblett (who is equally busy with an upcoming solo album of his own just announced) and features musical contributions from Tommy Heap, Jools Owen, Tommy Sheen, Emma Gatrill and Andrew Stuart-Buttle (you can spot most of these in the live videos below!) Between them they play with Matthew & The Atlas, Bear's Den, This Is The Kit, Lucy Rose and more - an enormously strong foundation for an album and one which is audible in this album. The instrumentation is top notch!

The album was written and recorded over the three month period following the end of a brief and intense fling, and the result is a collection of tracks which cycle through the raw emotions that you might expect. As such it is incredibly personal and emotional, sad in places but full of hope and optimism in others. As his PR beautifully describes it, Christof "manages to harness a tentative optimism both sonically and lyrically throughout the album, reminding us to be thankful for the ability to love at all and that there will always be someone out there who can awaken even the most subdued of souls." 

In keeping with the raw themes at the heart of the record, Christof booked time in the studio and set himself a three month deadline to make the album before a single track was written. Far from it feeling rushed, the result is an album which says everything that it needs to about a situation which is deeply personal, while remaining relatable and offering listeners an opportunity to explore their own emotions through the tracks. Christof explains that "I think for people who've found themselves in this situation before, they can listen to the album and find that it helps them through a tough time. If that's something that I can do with this project, I'd be very grateful." 

It's hard to 'review' specific tracks on the record because it is clear both through knowledge of the creative process behind it, and from listening to it, that the album works best as a whole. Created in such a short and intense period the tracks sit beautifully together, building a story lyrically until the last few lines of closing track A Stranger with "the strangest of it all is you're a stranger to me now." To look at them, the lyrics read more like a collection of poetry than an album - he's a really talented writer and my sentiments surrounding his EP earlier in the year most definitely still stand, I really appreciate the honesty and integrity that is tangible throughout the writing. 

After a couple (alright, lots) of listens over the last couple of months I think that I've picked out 4AM as my stand out track on the album. One of the louder and busier tracks sonically, I love the live version in the video above and can imagine it getting a strong reaction in the live environment. Another track I'm loving is Fucking Loser - a pretty clear message in the name of the track and the refrain "I really am a fucking loser" but there's some hope in this one - "you were the place I stood, the day my feet were sore. A reminder I could love one still." Elsewhere I'm absolutely loving the horns section in Pill too. 

Christof heads out on tour in Europe and the UK in a few weeks, with shows in Brighton (The Hope & Ruin on 7th October) and London (The Lexington on 8th October) to launch the album. It's a full band tour and if his Waiting Room show earlier in the year is anything to go by, it is sure to be a gorgeous evening - full dates and tickets here.

Listen to the album on Spotify here and grab your physical copy through Christof's site here. 

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WATCH: Christof van der Ven - '4AM' (Live at RAK)

With the release of his second album coming up in just a couple of weeks, get ready for a bit of a splurge of Christof van der Ven content here. For now - I am absolutely adoring the latest of his RAK Studios live sessions, this time performing recent single 4AM. Fans of Bear's Den and Matthew & The Atlas will spot some familiar faces in Christof's backing band, an incredibly talented bunch who have created something really magical in this performance. Loving the combination of Christof and Jools' (drums) vocals. Pre-order the new album You Were The Place here.

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LISTEN: Christof van der Ven - '4AM'

If you follow the blog, you'll be aware that I'm quite a fan of Christof van der Ven's solo project (and his work with Bear's Den, of course!) With his second album due for release in September, he's just shared the fourth single, the last to be released before the album drops. It's called 4AM and was the first track he wrote for the album. Take a listen below!

If you like what you're hearing, be sure to pre-order the album You Were The Place, which is due for release on September 6th (and is gorgeous!) He's playing some dates to support the release, including London's The Lexington on 8th October - tickets for that one are here.

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LISTEN: Christof van der Ven - 'Lucky'

"How lucky are we to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard?"

It's probably quite obvious from my posts that I am partial to a quality sad folk song. Christof van der Ven is delivering (as always) with new track Lucky - featuring such tear-jerking lyrics as "right now you occupy just everything, I find it hard to let you go" - taken from his upcoming second record You Were The Place. It's due for release on September 6th and as I've had a sneaky listen (I'll share a review closer to the time) I can tell you that it is a gorgeously heartbreaking (but also hopefully optimistic) album, written in response to the end of a brief and intense fling. If you can't wait until September, you should most definitely check out his debut album Empty Handed and recent EP Beneath The Ordinary Load, both beautifully crafted collections of tracks.

In support of the album, Christof plays a run of European shows including Brighton's The Hope & Ruin on October 7th and London's The Lexington on the 8th. He'll also be opening up for touring buddies Bear's Den (and playing in the band) on their upcoming Highlands & Islands tour around Scotland in August - full tour dates here.

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LISTEN: Christof van der Ven - 'A Darker Light'

Currently in the midst of a US tour as a member of Bear's Den, Holland born Christof van der Ven has just released the second track form his upcoming second album You Were The Place, due for release 6th September via Planet Zog Records. If his debut album and recent EP Beneath The Ordinary Load are anything to go by it's going to be something rather special.

Written and recorded over the three month period following the end of a brief and intense fling, the track is a melancholic reaction to the situation. Christof explains that it is "about a conversation that I had late at night with my mum after some wine. I was looking for an answer, a way out of the emotional mess I was in. She offered her wisdom and helped me get over that mental hurdle."

You can catch Christof at The Hope & Ruin in Brighton (7th October) and The Lexington in London (8th).

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ALBUM NEWS: Christof van der Ven - 'You Were The Place'

I have some wonderful news to share! Christof van der Ven has announced details of his second record You Were The Place, which is due for release on September 6th via Planet Zog Records. The record has been produced and mixed by Christof's Bear's Den bandmate Marcus Hamblett and features instrumentation from a wonderful group of musicians: Tommy Heap, Jools Owen, Tommy Sheen, Emma Gatrill and Andrew Stuart-Buttle.

I started to listen to Christof a little back in 2016 around the release of his Montreal EP, but really fell for his music upon the release of debut album Empty Handed just over a year ago. Ahead of a current period of touring as a member of Bear's Den, he recently released the EP Beneath The Ordinary Load. Truly a gorgeous collection of tracks. The promise of a new record incoming is very exciting news and I'm excited to share the first track, Bravais Arc. 

Christof plays a run of UK and EU tour dates in October to support the release of the record, with shows at The Hope & Ruin in Brighton (7th) and The Lexington in London (8th) - tickets and full dates here.

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LIVE: Christof van der Ven at The Waiting Room (11/3/19)

I ventured back to London on Monday for my sixth (I think...) gig of the year, a Communion Music show with Christof van der Ven headlining, and Benedict Benjamin and Emma Gatrill in support. The trio had been on a co-headline tour for the week, taking in shows in Leeds, Stroud and Brighton before heading for the capital. It was genuinely so stunning that I can almost forgive the mildly stressful journey I had to make to a new area of London, and the stress of searching out the venue, The Waiting Room, which is the basement of a pub in Stoke Newington.

Once I'd found the venue and settled down (it has a bench stretching along the length of the room - bonus!) Emma Gatrill took to the stage to open the show. Delivering vocals, harp and keys (through a pedal board, confusingly) she was joined by Marcus Hamblett (producer and live member of Bear's Den alongside Christof) on guitar.  I know of Emma through her work with Matthew and the Atlas, but her solo work is new to me, and was utterly spellbinding. I particularly enjoyed the track Skin which is taken from her 2017 album Cocoon.



Up next was Benedict Benjamin. I saw Ben playing live a couple of times when I was living in Oxford, both times at Sofar Sounds shows where he was playing solo, so it was great to see him play again, and with a band this time around. During his set, I remembered the trivial fact that I was the first person to buy a physical copy of his debut album Night Songs (which I adore and which quickly became a soundtrack for my essay procrastination) back in 2016 at one of the Sofar shows. Claim to fame?! Monday's set delivered a mix of tracks old and new, including the amusingly titled Motherfucker (which is, in the sweetest way possible, about his baby daughter). I'm really looking forward to his new record Truant, which is due for release on May 3rd and features the single Ain't Easy which you can listen to below.



Next up, Christof van der Ven took to the stage. Similarly to Ben, I've seen Christof performing solo a couple of times in the past, last year (opening for Adam Barnes) and a few years back at a Bear's Den show. This time around he was joined by a band, a sort of folk supergroup made up of members of Bear's Den and Matthew & The Atlas. And they were glorious. Very happy to hear that album two, which I believe features this live band, is currently being mixed in Berlin!

What Christof lacks in on-stage banter while distracted by the task of tuning his various guitars, he makes up for in some gorgeous songwriting. The set combined tracks from his 2018 record Empty Handed (which made it into my gigs of the year list) and his recent EP Beneath The Ordinary Load. I've been listening to the EP a lot since the show and have found myself really connecting with the "emotional weight" that Christof himself describes the tracks as carrying. I really appreciate the honesty and integrity in the writing.

Opening track Town To Town reflects on the "personal struggle of not having a home and being on tour all the time. Not being grounded [...] Not having a place to come back to that is mine". Second track The Spell (which you can listen to in a lovely acoustic session below) touches on his own broken heart, and lead single Cut The Ribbon is written for a close friend, of whom Christof explains: "my dear friend Martijn had an operation on his heart last year and struggled mentally for a while. This one is for him." Final track Big Men At Heart is a track written about mental health, and the importance of speaking up. Christof said of the track that "last year the singer Scott Hutchinson took his own life. I never met him but we have mutual friends. It hit home. It was devastating [...] This is one for Scott and for speaking out about mental health." 

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WATCH: Christof van der Ven - 'Never Never' for Sofar Sounds

A lot of my favourite acoustic videos come from the lovely folks of Sofar Sounds all over the world - not least because they book tons of brilliant artists. The nature of the shows - with an intimate audience watching the artists with talking to a minimum - means that they can produce videos in the style of acoustic sessions, with a live audience feeding into the performance and affecting the artist on this level, making it all a little more authentic. The latest Sofar session that I've fallen in love with is from Christof van der Ven (guitar/banjo/vocals for Bear's Den) who played for Sofar in London just days after releasing his beautiful debut album Empty Handed back in April. Check out the video below and if you like what you're hearing - his album is here!

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LISTEN: Christof van der Ven - 'Killed This Stone-Dead'

I had the total honour of seeing Christof van der Ven perform live last week, supporting Adam Barnes at his album launch show. From the couple of EPs which are available on Spotify and the recent single Empty Handed, I was already aware of the beauty he is able to create in a song, but was pretty taken aback by his opening track, which at the time reminded me a little of early Bon Iver (who funnily enough, Christof opened for on Monday evening.) Fast forward a couple of days and the tune, entitled Killed This Stone-Dead, was released as the second single from his upcoming debut album, which is released alongside debuts from Isaac Gracie and Bryde on (Friday) 13th April! Really love this and genuinely can't wait to hear the record! 

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