Simplon UP
Esther de Jong + endring

The music of Esther de Jong (Dokkum, 1994) feels like a velvet sledgehammer. Her soft voice will take you with her into her own thoughts, but they are so contemporary that we will all be able to recognize some of her words. This night is filled with lyrical song lyrics and will bring you down on your feet, to dance, or to fall through the floor at the end. The inspiration of her songs mainly comes from artists like Radiohead, Elbow, Father John Misty, Wende and Robert Long. With a five-piece band, these influences are blended and interpreted in their own unique way. Let this wonderfully soft Dutch diary music carry you away through the evening! In June 2023, Esther’s debut album ‘Even about life‘ was released by Excelsior Recordings and was described by OOR as an album written with a sharp pen and a sense of (black) humor. In 2015, Esther graduated from the Academy of Pop Culture in Leeuwarden. In 2019 she received the Frisian Pop Prize and in 2020 her debut EP in collaboration with beatmaker Wander Kars was released by Excelsior Recordings. Her debut album with a full band was released in June 2023, also on Excelsior Recordings. Since 2022, the band consists of Esker van de Werken (Exitlight Empire, Shotgun), Raven van de Werken, Jochem Knoef (The Future’s Dust, Cloud Mind, Onna Limb) and Patrick Schaafstal (When WeAre Wild, WONDER).

endring is the new musical obsession of producer Gerwin Weidenaar and singer-songwriter Diederick Brandsma (YVI). Gerwin’s IDM/techno background and the Middle Eastern infused indie folk voice and melodies of Diederick create a gloomy and haunting, though intriguing soundscape. The music comes across as a kind of soft, but rhythmic blanket that can fall over the audience. endring facilitates a musical dome for the audience to take shelter in. A place in which the listener is invited to observe their darker side. On November 24th, the duo released their debut EP ‘Myosotis’, while touring through the country. No better time to show what they have in store on our stage! Myosotis describes the process from being in a crisis, a search for perfection in vain, ending in acceptance. Earlier this year the band played as support act for Amy Root in a sold-out EKKO. Now it’s time to present itself to the public with its own show. For fans of Radiohead, James Blake, Tamino and Bon Iver. 

It promises to be a musical, poetic evening!

– Eva