We at Unday Records have been big fans of the quiescent yet magnificent work of Jan Swerts for years, so we are delighted he will be joining the ranks for his fourth album. In November 'Oud Zeer’ will be released, a theme album about graveyards, death and transience. The ten piano songs are all named after epitaphs that Swerts read in recent years. 'Oud Zeer’ is a memento mori, in which Swerts, in his idiosyncratic blend of singer-songwriter and classical music, reminds the listener of the comforting fact that we will soon be gone forever.
In anticipation of the album release, we are lifting the veil with a first single, ‘Lig hier zacht en stil’, which translates as ‘Lie here quietly and still’.
Eternal rest, that's what undertakers and priests promise us as a reward for life's hectic storm. The trophy at the finish. It’s also the only religious fable that has been difficult to disenchant throughout our lifetime. We love to believe in it and cling to the possibility of a peaceful sleep full of sweet dreams, so much more desirable than the eternal void.
The only rest we can be sure of, however, is the silence the living find on the cemetery, that ideal place for detachment and tranquility. You will not find a more effective medicine for the excess of noise, ambition, stress and ego so typical for these modern times.
‘It is a song the graves whispered to me. It will hopefully serve as a soundtrack for those vital empty moments of aimless staring’, says Jan Swerts.
Discover 'Lig hier zacht en stil' here: https://link.undayrecords.be/Lhzes