About
The Black Atlantic is the Groningen (The Netherlands) based acoustic pop band formed around singer and songwriter Geert van der Velde, former frontman for American metalcore group Shai Hulud. The Black Atlantic released their debut album “Reverence for Fallen Trees” digitally for free (worldwide) as part of the In A Cabin With international recording series on August 21st, 2009. It has already been downloaded over 50.000 times since then...
About “Reverence for Fallen Trees”
In February 2008, The Black Atlantic contacted the international recording project “In a Cabin With” (IACW) about a possible recording session. IACW were immediately enthusiastic and plans for a late 2008 recording, to take place in a log cabin, were made. The cabin, owned by van der Velde’s in-laws, is located in the small town of Saranac Lake, in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York. For this recording, drummer Marcel Wolthof was re-enlisted alongside singer-songwriter Kim Janssen on various instruments. Janssen co-wrote some of the songs for the recording and has permanently settled in and joined the band.
The title of the album “Reverence for Fallen Trees” is a metaphor for “honour the dead,” referring to van der Velde’s grandparents, three of whom passed away recently in the past year. The album deals with such topics as remembrance, grief, family, love, disenchantment, and overcoming. The eloquently worded lyrics are brought to life in natural metaphors and direct references to this period in his family history. Musically, the new songs showcase a much wider variety of instrumentation and willingness to experiment with sounds and soundscapes, and the use of multi-layered vocal harmonies inspired by acts such as Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes and the Beach Boys. Rhythmically the group has chosen for a much more minimal, percussive approach, touring with only a snare drum, floor tom and cymbal.
History & Touring:
The Black Atlantic started as a project of van der Velde in his off time from his philosophy studies. Gradually the project turned more serious after van der Velde recorded his first song - a Valentine’s gift to his then girlfriend, now wife (and band member) - in February of 2006.
After posting the song online (Myspace) and getting two immediate indie label deal offers, van der Velde wrote and recorded the ‘Send This Home’ EP in the early fall of 2006 with the help of various contributing friends. Eventually, he abandoned his studies to focus full-time on the band.
The EP documents van der Velde’s very first attempts at writing pop music, and showcases his penchant for melancholy and introspection, as well as his then obsession with Elbow. The EP was released on July 10th in the US by Five Point Records from New York (one of the two indie labels who had initially offered a deal), and in January 2008, ‘Send This Home’ EP was re-released in Europe through Midsummer Records (DE).
The Black Atlantic made its first live appearance, in one of many incarnations, at Eurosonic Festival (NL) in 2007. Since then the band has maintained a steady diet of touring, playing shows with a revolving line-up until April 2009. Along with opening for Nada Surf (USA) and Patrick Watson (CA), the band has toured Europe with Saturday Looks Good to Me (USA), and most recently with Windmill (UK).
