When it comes to Dutch electronic pop bands, there isn’t so much as one band total that springs to mind. Sure the Dutch have a pretty strong heritage of club crossover presence, which has gifted the likes of Armin Van Buuren, Tiësto, Hardwell, Fedde Le Grande, Martin Garrix and many more production outfits besides, who between them have put the Netherlands on the music map, earning global acclaim.
But ask anyone to name a Dutch electronic pop band, it is more than likely to draw the person the question is put to speechless and stumbling to give an answer.
I really know this to be true, since I have visited Holland many times & always make a point of checking out the record stores when on a trip over there. By and large the Dutch charts are very European orientated and of the record stores, well they are kind of a bizarre selling mix of traditional Dutch folk music, techno and Club EDM. So yeah not a whiff of Dutch pop or electronic pop, is likely to be found on the shelves.
This isn’t to say, that electronic pop bands do not exist, I’m sure that there must be more than a few coming up via the underground scene, but you get a clear picture it’s a whole different ball-game over in The Netherlands!
So, was I taken in surprise the other day to stumble upon an actual bone fide electronic pop offering by a Dutch project named The Father and the Sun. Yet, much as I consider this a rare find in itself, unearthing info on it, is even more of a task at hand. I’m not the type to give up though, I’ll dig and dig some to get to the bottom of it!
The Father and the Sun are a project out of Utrecht, who up until recently were known as Camping and are the brainchild of Ronny Janmaat, who not so surprisingly is a producer in the first instance.
Leading focus single “Lies” off the debut EP “Remember” cuts in particularly nostalgically new wave observed, all channeled into a tidy knot of New Order allure. By word of that, it is rather good.
If I hadn’t so much dug around to feed my nerdy brain the facts, I would have ultimately concluded the origins to have been of German decent no doubt.
There is a definite air of cloak and dagger presiding over this release, from the artwork through to the information surrounding it, for sure. It’s early days in the extreme on this one though, proper grass roots, if you will. I had the desire to call it out, basically for the reasons explained above. As if the Dutch are getting in on electronic pop for real, I’d rather it not get hidden under a bushel, due to the weightiness of attention given over to the country’s mainstay of acts at large peddling out ravey cuts of EDM, Techno and Trance, .
Completely, The Father and the Sun, are the proverbial diamond in the rough. Yet, the spark of crisply kinetic, electronic engaging impact here, speaks for itself.