Van Wyk Brand, front man of 2015’s Converse Get Out of the Garage competition winner, IV4, has a fairly busy solo career in the works. In anticipation of his soon-to-be released debut album, “Winter/Spring”, Brand dropped the lead single off the project several months ago. ‘Hou My Vas’ is one of the two Afrikaans songs featured on the album and is a chiming, floaty love song, laced with several impressively unusual elements.
The track begins with a tinkling alarm bell which swiftly gives way to the delicate three chord guitar riff which primarily dominates the song. The sound is light and breezy, with an array of complimentary instruments weaving in and out of the guitar and drums groundwork. Lilting strings, silvery keyboard synths, ukulele and even the triangle’s chiming make an appearance throughout.
Afrikaans ballads have the unfortunate tendency to blend into one another, no matter the artist, and while Brand’s sound may initially lean in that direction, he soon proves he is anything but typical. A sweet, delicately foot-tapping serenade which is intermittently revved up into a bouncier melody, ‘Hou My Vas’ is a delightful little taste of what is to come.
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Listen to ‘Hou May Vas’ below.
