“Powerful but intimate’ ★★★★” – MOJO Magazine
FOR RELEASE FEBRUARY 18
AMSTERDAM (January 24, 2022) – Amsterdam singer-songwriter, VanWyck, announces the release of her single, “Maybe, Maybe Not,” on February 18. The single is off her fourth album, The Epic Tale of the Stranded Man, due out on April 8 through Excelsior Recordings. ”Maybe, Maybe Not” is an anthem for the indecisive, the loiterers, the unsure, the ones that can’t seem to make up their minds: the one step forward, two-step back people; the maybe, maybe not kind.
The song’s mood is deceptively lighter. It’s a tug of war between a persistent jogging beat and skipping interludes, with VanWyck’s vocals pulling the listener back into a state of suspended indecision. The protagonist’s answer is to keep walking, even if he doesn’t know where to go.
VanWyck says, “I’ve always had this sort of feeling that if all fails, I can just start walking. As a last resort, I could gather my stuff in a backpack and move on, keep walking. In the pandemic, when it looked like all shows would be canceled for a long time, I decided that if that happened I would just start walking and have an adventure. An escapist longing I guess, but maybe also a sincere desire to be some kind of pilgrim, to be truly free. But I stayed put – hence the song.”
Enchanting, moody, and rich, the album vividly reflects these confusing modern times through whispered tones and cavernous themes. It’s a timeless album portraying the different ways in which modern man is lost, scared, stuck in his ways, and searching for a way out of his predicament. Twelve songs that intertwine both lyrically and harmonically. Together they tell a story about a man who washes up on a wondrous island and doesn’t remember where he came from. Is he a victim or a perpetrator? Has he escaped, or is he imprisoned? Can he be saved, or is his end near? Luckily a woman enters the stage. Will she be able to save him?
The album also speaks of these times in a broader sense: we are living on the brink of epic transitions. We know that the old ways will lead to our destruction but can’t decide on the path forward. VanWyck says, “Sometimes it feels like we are trapped in our own prisons, in our inability to take good care of each other and this wonderful planet, like we are failing in our most epic of struggles, the survival of our humanity.”
The Epic Tale of the Stranded Man Track Listing
- The Stranded Man
- I Was Innocent
- Maybe, Maybe Not
- The Havoc Wreaker
- Seaweed Seller
- Pond Floor Dwellers
- The Dragon
- Ciceline
- The Smiling Prophet
- Lola With the Light Eyes
- The Way Out
- My Baby Rides a Dark Horse
About VanWyck
Amsterdam VanWyck has drawn comparisons to Leonard Cohen and Laura Marling with her rich lyrics and sober alt-folk craft. She released her first EP, Tanned Legs, in 2015 to international acclaim. Her debut album, An Average Woman, came out in January 2018 on her own Maiden Name Records and was hailed by the Dutch music press as one of the best releases by a native artist in years. After her first extensive theatre tour was canceled because of Covid, VanWyck changed course and released a third album of intimate, acoustic songs called God is in the Detour in 2020. The album received a 4-star review in MOJO magazine and has been streamed over a million
Tour Dates
02/14 Muziekgebouw, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
02/26 Lost Causes Festival, Tewkesbury, UK
03/11 Beauforthuis, Austerlitz, The Netherlands
03/12 Theaterkerk Wadway, The Netherlands
03/18 Tivoli Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands
03/25 Pop- en Cultuurhuis PX, Volendam, The Netherlands
03/26 De Amer, Amen, The Netherlands
03/31 Cultura, Ede, The Netherlands
04/03 Agnietenkapel, Gouda, The Netherlands
04/09 Theater Junushoff, Wageningen, The Netherlands
04/15 Nieuwe Nor, Heerlen, The Netherlands
04/22 MIMIK, Deventer, The Netherlands
04/23 Theater Ludens, Voorburg, The Netherlands
04/29 Schouwburg Ogterop, Meppel, The Netherlands
05/14 Theaterkerk hemels, Twisk, The Netherlands
05/15 Cool kunst en cultuur, Heerhugowaard, The Netherlands
05/22 Meervaart, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
06/04 Nijend 24, Nijend, The Netherlands
06/19 Paradiso, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
07/23 Zomer op het plein Festival, Alkmaar, The Netherlands
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Praise For VanWyck
Today’s Top Tune – KCRW
“a real sense of mystery, and an intriguing confusion as to where the truth might really lie”- Americana UK
“one of those consistently rewarding albums” – Folk Radio
:a singer that deserves to be heard far beyond her native Amsterdam” – Trevor Raggatt RnR MAgazine UK
