Diederik Nomden is one of those musicians every other musician respects. Dedicated to his craft, fluent on multiple instruments, a brilliant member for any band (like Daryll-Ann, Johan, Ellen ten Damme, AWKWARD I, The Analogues, Her Majesty), collaborator (Bertolf, and others) and as if that’s not enough; a gifted songwriter too. We already filmed a session when he released an album as Royal Parks back in 2012, and earlier this year as his duo with Bertolf – but when he invited me to Exalto Studios in Haarlem, we filmed seven or eight songs in what felt like an hour. Today, on the day before Christmas, I’m giving you three of those songs: Little Child from his latest solo album Sooner/Later, and covers of God Only Knows (Beach Boys) and Here, There and Everywhere (The Beatles).
A personal trilogy
“It’s really nice to make it all by myself. This time, I left the drums and bass to Kees Schaper and David Corel, which I also really enjoyed. A year ago now, I realized I really needed to get started. So I just sat down at the piano and started playing songs that weren’t finished yet, leaving some parts blank.” Nomden explicitly exchanged control for more collaboration. “That actually worked out really well. I’ve known David for thirty years. He can’t play anything that isn’t beautiful. And it’s the same with Kees. He never plays anything that isn’t tasteful. And I’m not really a control freak. So I think, if I had done it myself, it would have been different, but whatever.”
Sooner/Later is the conclusion of a trilogy that started with Wingman Returns, then Parallel Universe, and now this one. “These were three albums that just had to come out, and are connected, both thematically and musically. On all three, there are songs at the end that I kind of came up with during the first one, so they’re really connected, also historically. Or things that I finished now, like Little Child, butstarted five years ago. There are brothers and sisters among the songs.”
Diederik Nomden enjoys working in his own environment, without outside opinions. “I made all three albums in my own trusted environment, without anyone else’s opinions, which I always really like. That gives it a certain charm, I think. David Corel thinks it’s my best. He said: ‘You’re fifty, you don’t have anything to prove anymore.’ I don’t feel that way myself, but he hears it. So I take that to heart.”