Jan Swerts reveals epic new music

Posted on 01 Oct 2021

We'll have to wait until November to hear Jan Swerts' 'graveyard album' in its entirety, but we're really excited to share this one with you today. 
Het Ongekend Nadezen is the title of the second song we uncover from Jan Swerts’ upcoming fourth album Oud Zeer. It translates as (an archaic version of) ‘the unknown hereafter’. Swerts’ new music is inspired by the reassuring silence of old cemeteries, each song title refers to an epitaph he encountered on his late night wanderings.

The album Oud Zeer is expected on November 12. Jan also announced an extended release tour.

Het Ongekend Nadezen is also a quote from 19th century priest and poet Guido Gezelle, who reassured loved ones of a reunion in the afterlife.
Maybe he wanted to counter the melancholic prophecy of Edgar Allan Poe from a few years earlier, in The Raven. Poe ensured us we would never see our beloved again after death.
In Het Ongekend Nadezen both visions challenge one another. It is a song that shifts between hope and despair, between There must be something there  and There can’t be anything there.