Paradiso, 12 June 2002
Damian Leslie
dampen666@hotmail.com
Photo: Earl www.electricearl.comI'll be honest. I don't know a lot about Ad Vanderveen, but I get the impression he wants to be the Dutch Neil Young. His songs sound very familiar despite my having never heard them before and it doesn't take long to figure out Ad's recipe. Think Neil Young's Harvest album and sprinkle in a little Simon and Garfunkel and you're pretty much there.
Vanderveen takes these influences and, in typical Dutch culinary fashion, mashes them together to create a bland reflection of what went in to it.
Still, a musical Hutspot of Neil Young and Paul Simon is a damn sight tastier than most music out there and once you let the similarities wash over you Ad Vanderveen comes across as a very competent singer songwriter.
His style is slow, calming and very precise, and ultimately is the sound of a guy sitting on his porch thinking about his life and watching the world walk by. You won't fall in love with it - but it'll help pass the time nicely.
Astrid Young is a different kettle of fish. She plays an acoustic set tonight too - but hers is hard, heavy and exhilarating. The low end of her twelve string is heavily used so the music has an eerie undercurrent that is reminiscent of Alice In Chains' Unplugged.
It's dark, it's brooding but it's very, very interesting. There's a lot of bile and anger dwelling underneath Astrid's songs as well as a sense of paranoia and she has an uncanny ability to twist a lyric on its head. "Where will it end, where will it end? Assuming we begin," she screams at one point. This results in an atmosphere that never allows the listener to feel comfortable. She seems to come at you from all angles and at the end of a song called Matinee, the title track to her new acoustic album, she left me feeling like I'd had an argument with her without ever having knowing what it was about.
In the space of this one song her voice goes from being as gentle as a lullaby to being very emotive and sensual then suddenly, as if from nowhere she bellows out a wail that shakes you to your knees and is, simply put, terrifying! It's like a whole doomed relationship in five minutes. Friendly beginning, steamy encounter in the middle and a horrendous break up at the end. Powerful stuff.
The two of them join on stage for the final act of tonight's show and the mixture of the emotive power of Astrid and the simple, pure feeling of Vanderveen gels together to result in something quite special. Vanderveen's own First Feeling is a stunning highlight.
Things are rounded off with a couple of Neil Young songs, but considering those on stage either want to be Neil or am directly related to him, you couldn't expect anything else could you?
They strip down a version of Mr Soul replacing the frantic guitar solo with a not so impressive harmonica solo but it's decent enough. They follow this with a stunning cover of Powderfinger. Slowed into a gentle country rhythm the song elevates itself easily above the rest of the material on show tonight, and it's so beautiful it's tragic storyline is enough to bring tears to the eyes. Beautiful.
It's been an emotional ride this evening and I've been very pleasantly surprised. They've a few more dates around Holland - I'd definitely recommend you check them out, you might be surprised too.
