Every Wednesday I want to share with you a Dutch band, to get you acquainted with the rich Dutch music scene. The Netherlands might be a small country but we have a lot to offer you. Let me take you on a journey through the Netherlands and its many talented artists and bands.
Welcome back to Going Dutch, nice of you to revisit! This week we are travelling to Haarlem, the hometown of Rilan and The Bombardiers. Last week we talked about De Staat, this week we will venture into an whole different direction genre wise. So be prepared!
Once upon a time, there was a show in Hedon, Zwolle, three starting artists showcased their talents for Zwolle. It was suppose to be the evening of Avi On Fire, the other 2 bands were supposed to be bonus, but boy did that second band of the evening put on a show. That second band was Riland and The Bombardiers. The opener of the evening was All the King's Daughters. At the end of the evening I decided to buy, the EP's of all the artists, and I went home with a new favorite artist to add to my collection. The show of Rilan was so damn impressive, it had so much energy.
That first EP "Walking On Fire" I have listened to many times over the years, songs like "Wanna Dance" really want to, well make you dance. Even if you can't dance for shit, you want to bob your head to the catchy beat. The EP is full groove, soul and lots of energie. It could also have been a great disco album.
So musically, I am not sure if I have any comparison, but it kind of also reminds me of Bruno Mars. Think Runnaway Baby. Bruno Mars also has those funky, groovy beats, especially in his more recent work. I think the music is divers, with hints of soul, funk, rhythm and blues, and a tiny edge of rock. Rilan and the Bombardiers describe themselves a rock 'n soul band.
In 2018 Rilan's debutalbum came out, called "Afro Dite". In the meantime, the music of Rilan to and the Bombardiers made it to Hollywood, and was used in various tv shows and series, for example the Netflix series Shooter. I think this was a major breakthrough for the band, and in 2018 the also came back to Hedon with their own headline show. It was another amazing show, you could really feel that they had grown in their music and in their stage performance. This show definitely surpassed the previous.
The album "Afro Dite" went home with me that night, it was still really sounding like that first EP, but this album also brought with it a new sound, some more laid back soulful sounds. I love the songs "Freeman", "I Believe" and "Welfareman". The latter being more up beat. I am not sure how this album was received if this had the same hype around it as that first EP. I think it did not surpass the succes they achieved with "Walking on Fire".
From that first album it got quiet around the band, they have released a couple of songs but no new albums yet. The newest release being "Drowning, that was released in November 2022. This song is not so upbeat, more dreamy. Still it has the Rilan sound, his voice being a little bit more raspy than in his other songs. And it feel a little darker than his previous work. I am not yet convinced if I like it or not, let me know what you think? You can find it below in the playlist.
Every week I select 5 songs for the Going Dutch playlist, these song are hand-selected by me and I hope that they best represent the artist this post is about. Of course in part this remains personal taste. I hope you I have giving you something new to listen to, for more info of this artist check the links at the top of the post of go to Spotify for some more music.
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