Tamara van Esch

Japanese artist Kohei Kondo painted live during this session, just like he did on Chima‘s session that day.

Tamara van Esch grew up playing underneath a grand piano. Not at it; underneath it, listening to her mother work through classical pieces from the floor below. It’s the earliest musical memory she can place, and it left something in her.

Her mother was a professional classical pianist, which meant lessons started at seven. But the leap from learning other people’s music to writing her own came from watching Dutch artists on television. “Seeing ‘local’ artists doing their own music inspired me to also write my own music,” she says. “With the classical piano lessons I had, I never realized that one could write songs of their own.”

Hail to the Thief became a record she returned to constantly.

Tamara van Esch’s taste kept moving. The Spice Girls and Destiny’s Child (music her sisters listened to) gave way, at fourteen, to Green Day. “That opened a new world for me: rock music. Through my high school friends I then listened to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and bought all their records on vinyl. Then Radiohead arrived, serious enough that when a friend suggested performing You and Whose Army? in front of the entire school, she agreed. “I was a huge fan of Radiohead.” During a rough stretch as a teenager, Hail to the Thief became a record she returned to constantly. “I was very down and always judging myself. So, I could relate to the song in a sense.”

“I can listen to St. Vincent and Klô Pelgag endlessly.”

The discovery that changed things most came at nineteen: St. Vincent. Specifically, Actor. “She is still a huge inspiration for me.” Van Esch puts Klô Pelgag in the same category, a more recent find, but one that clearly hit hard. She traveled to Paris with two friends just to see her perform. “She’s both a very interesting songwriter, producer and also live she’s super impressive. It was totally worth it. Best concert I’ve been to in years. Both of them are excellent songwriters. Pop music with sometimes classical elements and both catchy and very surprising structures and songs. I can listen to their music endlessly.” Both artists show up, she thinks, in what she creates. “I hope you can easily hear the influence of the vocal sound of both My Brightest Diamond and St. Vincent in my voice.”

“I Have Never Loved Someone touches me in my ‘core’.”

She’s been writing songs since she was fourteen. Nearly twenty years now. “I think my songwriting has become way better and my singing too.” For The Influences, she chose to cover songs that are special to her. “I Have Never Loved Someone touches me in my ‘core’. It’s so pure and the melody sticks with you and sounds as if it’s from the sixties/seventies somehow and the subject of the lyrics touches me deeply. I have cried when listening to this song several times.” 

What she hopes other people take from her music is inspiration. “I hope I can inspire others to create as well and to follow their dreams, even when it’s hard. Your life gets so much more meaning when you try to keep following what you feel is your passion.”

Gracie

Tamara van Esch’s new record Gracie is out on May 1st. Don’t sleep on it. Watch this session a bunch of times before then, and then check out the album. You will not be disappointed you did. Tamara van Esch will be touring the new record, find all dates here.

Band members: Jorn Kortooms (drums), Sonya Vos (bass) and David Coehoorn (guitar).

Photos

2026