VanWyck

“It took me a long time to find my voice and maybe even longer to claim my space in public life. But I have now and I’m really happy that I did. What has driven me onwards these last years against better judgment and against a music industry that until very recently wasn’t very interested in the voices of women, let alone older women, are the songs. They keep calling to me and I keep having to respond. I think I have something true to share, whether it’s about an alcoholic lost in a supermarket, a goddess raging at a landscape, a whispering garbage man, or a drowning girl. I feel it’s my job, my duty, to let them out into the world, to build them homes where they can blossom, so they can search out the people who are in need of them. Like the girl in eastern Russia who did her wedding dance to ‘Lead me on’, or the American farmer who wrote to tell me that because of ‘Your Favorite Tune’ he cried over the death of his wife for the first time in years. Success is not about streaming numbers or sales figures, it’s about forging a true connection with an audience, it’s about the joy of creating. It’s about being honest and brave – even when that is sometimes painful. It’s about trying to eke out the truth and having the courage to share it. With every album I feel I’m getting better at doing just that.” 

With her rich lyrics and sober alt-folk craft Amsterdam VanWyck has drawn comparisons to Leonard Cohen and Laura Marling. 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. With four new songs that she wrote and recorded during lockdown and four older ones that she remastered, the album speaks of finding solace in unexpected places. The album received a 4-star review in MOJO magazine and has been streamed over a million times.

With her fourth album, VanWyck reaches even higher: The Epic Tale of the Stranded Man will be released by iconic Dutch indie label Excelsior Recordings in 2022. Its twelve songs intertwine both lyrically and harmonically. Together they tell a story about a man haunted by a dark past and the woman who tries to save him.