The pairing of Jesse Rudd-Schmidt (based in Melbourne) and Thijs Flinsenberg (living in Utrecht, the Netherlands), Dutch Monks first formed when the duo were working together doing medical research in Melbourne.
Both scientists, Jesse and Thijs musical bond was cemented one night after work initially with an acoustic guitar and a classical piano.When Thijs was due to return home to the Netherlands, the pair decided it was time to record an album together. With the assistance of an array of session musicians, Jesse and Thijs began work on 'Yours To Lend', the first sample of which is the single 'Colour Blind'.
"The song was written about a tricky relationship situation, where I was falling totally in love with somebody, whilst still being emotionally attached to somebody else," Jesse says.
"I guess the upbeat vibe of the song, and that '60s kind of bop really captures that fun and excitement of a new relationship, whilst the heavier side of the lyrics details the torment we were both going through knowing my heart was still somewhere else."
Ahead of the song's release on Thursday (6 August), scenestr is stoked to premiere 'Colour Blind' today. Enjoy.
"When we first played this song to the session musicians we recorded our album with, the room just lit up," adds Jesse, "there was such a great energy to it that they really connected with straight away.
"The bass player, Jason, literally ran out the studio to grab his Hofner bass guitar out of his van, because could feel straight away it had that rocking '60s vibe!"
With a release date still to be set for 'Yours To Lend', Jesse explains it has been quite the journey to record Dutch Monks' debut album. "At the time that we decided to really go for it and record a full studio album, we only had about two or three months until Thijs left the country to return home to the Netherlands.
"So it was a real motivator to get into the studio and work as hard as we could to get all of Thijs's piano/ keys/ backing vocals down before we ran out of time.
"I was then able to go back in to the studio at leisure and finalise my parts. And leisurely it was. . . the whole album took around one year to record, as I fitted in short recording sessions around my relatively busy schedule in my 'day job' as a medical researcher.
"In fact, halfway through recording the album I spent about two months in London for my work, so it was a really good chance to get away from the studio, and then come back with fresh ears and add the final touches to the album.
"I couldn't be happier with the way it's turned out, and once the world returns to some kind of normal, we're already making plans for Thijs to visit Australia to write and record a second album."
