I think it’s about time to start introducing the musicians that will play live at the Onder Invloed shows in Utrecht and Zwolle. This month we have live shows on Thursday the 17th (EKKO) and Friday the 25th (Hedon). Headliner for both shows will be Marien Dorleijn, leadsinger of the Dutch band Moss. He’s no stranger to Onder Invloed and vice versa.
I Apologise (Live at Onder Invloed, September 2009)
At their request, I wrote the biography to go with their second album ‘Never Be Scared, Don’t Be A Hero’. I’ll let you read it here, accompanied with some videos of Marien Dorleijn and/or Moss that I shot over the years.
As I am sitting on the wooden floor of my appartment, ‘Never Be Scared, Don’t Be A Hero’ roars through the room. I don’t do drugs, and honoustly, I don’t think I will ever have to, with the help of this second Moss album. Within minutes I’m in some sort of trance. Phone calls go by unanswered, dinner gets cold, drinks remain untouched.
It is no wonder this record was written in confinement. Before writing sessions at an English farm, the band’s been influenced by Phoenix’s danceability and live shows by Brian Jonestown Massacre. Some credit has to be given to the old bomb shelter in Amsterdam, where they rehearsed these more intense, darker and whipping songs.
Previously Unreleased (Live at Onder Invloed, April 2009)
‘We’ll go trough several changes, all going in our minds’, Marien Dorleijn sings in the song called ‘The Brick Moon’. Moss has changed, not only in their minds. Although that’s probably the place where the changes started out, the band succeeded in transmitting those to their songs and sounds.
While debut ‘The Long Way Back’ was an album of almost old-fashionedly good songwritership, with pure, delicate pieces of music; it’s succeeder is louder, more dangerous, darker and whipping. It’s fast, like a lumberjack chopping wood to be done by dawn, but who’s still working very precise. Dorleijn’s characteristic voice has been optimised in the mix, which suits the songs wonderfully.
Between The Bars (Elliott Smith – Onder Invloed session, January 2009)
This darker and more intense feeling will obviously have to work it’s way through to their live shows, that from now on can be a dynamic whole, with songs from both albums and the contrast between the two. After supporting the likes of Bettie Serveert, Johan, Alamo Race Track, The Magic Numbers and Razorlight, the band seems more than ready to stand on their own two feet and to conquer some hearts and to blow numerous minds.
Don’t be scared, Moss is here to stay.
Silent Shout (The Knife cover – Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, November 2010)
– THU 17-03-2011: EKKO, UTRECHT
Line up: Marien Dorleijn (Moss), The Seventeenth Century (UK), Rue Royale (UK), Ryan Joseph Burns (UK)
– FRI 25-03-2011: HEDON, ZWOLLE
Line up: Marien Dorleijn (Moss), The Seventeenth Century (UK), Arthur Adam, Ryan Joseph Burns (UK)