Last week, transcontinental duo Dutch Monks released their debut album, 'Yours To Lend'.
The musical pairing of Melbourne-based singer-guitarist Jesse Rudd-Schmidt's tactful lyrics and Dutchman Thijs Flinsenberg's intricate piano lines, Dutch Monks was formed when the two (both scientists) bonded one night after work during a spontaneous jam session."What an incredible experience!" beams Jesse. "Recording a full-length album has always been a huge dream of mine, ever since I started writing songs over 15 years ago.
"After meeting Thijs and developing such a strong musical connection it allowed all these songs that I had written over the last decade to take a whole new shape, maturing from simple vocals and guitar into much richer sounds with intricate chordal layers and harmonies.
"And then to have some super talented session musicians add their flavour to it in the studio, it has just ended up something I am completely happy with, which I've never had before."
With Thijs now back living in the Netherlands, the duo's current single is 'Never! Not Anyone', featuring a catchy melody tied together into a progressive rock structure that sits somewhere between Eskimo Joe and Fleetwood Mac.
scenestr is amped to premiere the music video for 'Never! Not Anyone' today. Enjoy.
"'Never! Not Anyone' is the first song that Thijs and I composed together," adds Jesse.
"We had sat down to jam for the first time, and with Thijs being classically trained I was a bit self-conscious about my lack of formal musical knowledge and really had no idea what to play, but then I remembered I had this old song idea that I had always wanted to hear with piano.
"I started playing the intro chords and Thijs just straight away came up with a piano line not far removed from what you hear in the final recording! It just worked.
"It was such a beautiful experience hearing the song come to life, as the lyrics and the basic chord structure had been with me for about 15 years.
"We kept playing for hours that night and it was such an enjoyable experience for both of us, working through the different parts of this song, trying various ideas together.
"It really forged the beginning of our musical relationship. Six months later we had composed enough material for a full album."
While Dutch Monks remained on opposite sides of the world, they do plan to record another album together once the world returns to some semblance of normality.
