Sober Maal [LP Coke bottle green]

DE MANNEN BROEDERS is the debut collaboration feat. Colin van Eeckhout and the Zeeuws Flemish folk icon Tonnie ‘Broeder’ Dieleman. The former is the frontman for Belgian post-metallers AMENRA, a band known for their overwhelming heaviness both in sound and emotion. The latter is a Dutch folk singer whose music is inspired by his religious upbringing and the rural culture of his Zeelandic homeland, who has collaborated with Baby Dee and Bonnie Prince Billy. When the two met, they felt an instant connection.

“As a creating artist, it’s these encounters that you pray for,” says Colin. “As soon as you meet someone like that, you know you have to do something together.”

Their connection was deepened as they discovered how much they had in common, from their similar dialects and their strong ties to their homeland, to their leanings towards the spiritual and the melancholic. “My work is all about death and sadness,” says Tonnie. “For me, music started with my mother dying; my first album is about her death. That’s a strong connection with Colin, too, as he lost his Dad.”

The result is the 9-track Sober Maal (which translates to ‘sober meal’ and refers to the practice of eating a simple meal in order to practice gratitude), which is being released under the moniker DE MANNEN BROEDERS. It was written and recorded in under five days at the 18th century church Doopsgezinde Kerk in Middelburg in the Netherlands

Sonically, Sober Maal is a haunting, droning, emotionally rich journey that feels rooted in a bygone world while still sounding wholly original, and has a melancholy air yet retains a hopeful feel. Colin and Tonnie’s vocals blend with the choir and a pared-back selection of instruments including a banjo, piano, hurdy gurdy and the powerful central organ – all intermingling with the sounds and echoes of the church.

“Religion has a negative connection because it has been a force on people,” Colin says. “Spirituality is something you follow by choice. We like to dive into the ungraspable things in life: it needs to be free to interpret.”