Other Writings

NEW: Emily and Harke Jan – Dwelling in Possibility (November 2025)

I like good prose; I love the meandering sentences one can get lost in. Its detailed precision and complexity of thinking expressed in long compositions of words. You will tell me that poetry does exactly these same things but with fewer words and a nicer rhythm and sound to them, a freer and boundless imagery. But somehow I find the succinct way …

Hark! en Co: Shall I Compare Thee to a River’s Gleam (November 2023)

One could quote Shakespeare, Keats, Wordsworth or indeed Edgar Allan Poe … To speak of life’s eternally recurring struggles and delights. In the latest offering of Hark! en Co the darkly romantic character trait of Edgar Allan Poe is providing the luscious words of inspiration for the music of this timeless-sounding ensemble to dwell …

Betrayed By The Sun: Reflections on the Music by Anomic Bond (October 2023)

Autumn sets in once more. Music born on the threshold between summer and winter is the one I prefer. This German duo of a brother and sister closely bonding in an alienating world, has a privileged insight – so their music tells me – in this tenebrous side of the light. Cimmerian shivers …

The Proud and the Brave: On the Work of Belgian Photographer Michel Chevalier (September 2022)

The colourful ornithological galeries of photographs by Michel Chevalier and his pictures of landscapes in black and white – like forms of light and dark – couldn’t be more different from one another. Yet, looking through these exquisite albums, I was struck by a certain common …

Valentine Boy: On a Song by The Divine Comedy (February 2019)

Let’s celebrate this day of love with Valentine-boy, Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy. Not your usual Adonis. “Frêle”, skinny, not very tall, he looks like these poets of frailty such as Rilke and Keats. But with the deepest, thoughtful and confident eyes, sweet, but somewhat mischievous as well, with an intelligent …