Maarten Devoldere News Today

A slightly seasonal edition of the most eclectic regular record reviews in the universe. By Thomas H Green.

Fever (2019), the latter one of the finest rock albums of the 2010s. Led by co-vocalists Maarten Devoldere and Jinte Deprez, the band evolved from a rock sound indebted to the early aughts’ “rock revival” into something still rooted in rock vernacular but inclined to atypical arrangements and instrumentation. Fever’s innovation was to place the bass front and center; on tracks like “Wrong Faces” and “You’re So Real”, the guitar plays almost a peripheral role, with bassist Simo...

7/10 A quick search of songs that in some way feature a reference to the Belgian city of Antwerp brings up more results than you’d maybe think; American downbeat rockers Pavement namecheck it in 1994’s Brink Of The Clouds, while downtempo eccentrics Lemon Jelly also drop the handle on 2002’s Ramblin’ Man. It’s probably more authentic for Balthazar to join that fraternity given that they’re based in Ghent, a town roughly seventy clicks to the south west of what is, as most of us ...