Category: Lewsberg

photo by Tommy Ventevog

LEWSBERG will be touring North America for the first time this Autumn, with a 25 show run kicking off September 20 at Brooklyn’s Union Pool. The band’s first-ever trip to these shores includes a September 30 Memphis appearance at the 20th edition of Goner Fest. Full dates below.

Said tour is preceded by Tuesday’s release of early mixes of 2 new Lewsberg songs, “Without A Doubt” and “Communion”, both of which will included on the band’s forthcoming 4th album, ‘Out & About’,  coming this September.

In addition, Lewsberg’s self-titled debut album from 2018 is being reissued in the U.S. by 12XU this July

Lewsberg North American Tour  2023

9/20 – Brooklyn NY, Union Pool w/ Ava Mendoza, Donna Allen
9/21 – Kingston NY, Tubby’s w/ Rider/Horse
9/22 – Philadelphia, Jerry’s on Front w/ Cartoon
9/23 – Wash., DC, Quarry House
9/24 – Chapel Hill, The Cave w/ Three Body Problem
9/26 – Atlanta, The Earl w/ Dippers, Arbor Labor Union
9/27 – Nashville, Drkmttr w/ Dippers
9/28 – Louisville, The Portal w/ Charm School, Palomina
9/30 – Memphis, Gonerfest 20
10/1 – Jackson MS, End of All Music anniversary party
10/3 – New Orleans, TBA
10/4 – Houston, Echoes
10/5 – Austin, Hotel Vegas w/ Water Damage
10/7 – Lawrence KS, The White Schoolhouse
10/9 – Chicago, Sleeping Village w/ CB Radio Gorgeous
10/11 – Indianapolis, State Street Pub w/ Craig Bell & the Dead Man’s Handle, Living Dream
10/12 – Columbus, Cafe Bourbon St. w/ Unholy Two
10/13 – Detroit, Outer Limits Lounge
10/14 – Cleveland, Beachland w/ Obnox, Wrong Places
10/16 – Rochester NY, Lux Lounge w/ Nod
10/17 – Toronto, Tranzac
10/19 – Montreal, Casa del Popolo w/ Chris Forsyth, Helene Barbier
10/20 – Cambridge MA, Middle East Cafe w/ Chris Brokaw, Minibeast
10/21 – TBA
10/22 – Asbury Park NJ, Bond Street Basement

 

Lewsberg – In Your Hands (12XU 137-1) 

(available via all digital services Friday, October 29 2021, LP coming in early 2022)

Sometimes change comes with big shocks, sometimes it comes with small steps. On ‘In Your Hands’, Lewsberg’s new album, a bit of both seems to be happening. Take the second song, ‘The Corner’. A remarkably discreet song: a violin plays a simple melody; a gentle drum loop keeps its finger on the pulse. “This brick is a brick to build”, it sounds, though a little later: “This brick is a brick to throw”. A brick offers many possibilities, for those who want to see it. One time as a part of something bigger to come, the next time just as a simple stone, left on the ground. After all, most things are relative. Sometimes one can achieve more by breaking something than by building something. If you think you can determine which of the two is needed, you’d be fooling yourself.



(photo : Els Kuijt)

‘In Your Hands’ embodies the moment when all the bricks are there, but the wall has yet to be built. It’s a moment with perspective, a moment where everything still seems possible, but caution is advised. The album sounds both smaller and more spacious than the previous albums. Guitar chords are plucked instead of fiercely struck, the bass guitar is given more room for melodic explorations, the drum kit is dismantled to just a tom and a tambourine. There is doubt in the lyrics, but it’s a strong kind of doubt. A doubt that can stand in the way of a wrong decision but  also invite for a good conversation.

The old Lewsberg has been professionally demolished and the building blocks are on display. Ready for future applications and already finished at the same time. ‘In Your Hands’ is therefore an ode to the potential and a call to carefully give way to it. Just what we need right now. But if I were to claim this so boldly, I wouldn’t have learned much from Lewsberg.

Niek Hilkmann
October 2021

‘In Your Hands’, Lewsberg’s third album, will see the light of day on October 29th. Just like their self-titled 2018 debut and second album ‘In This House’ (2020), this record will be released by the Rotterdam-based band themselves+. For ‘In Your Hands’, Lewsberg was reduced to a three-piece: Arie van Vliet, Michiel Klein and Shalita Dietrich. With nine songs and a total playing time of 23 minutes, it can rightly be called a mini-album.

+ – In North America, as was the case with 2020’s ‘In This House’, ‘In Your Hands’ will be released by 12XU.


music by michiel. words by arie. words for all things (continued) by shalita. performance by arie (guitar, violin, vox), michiel (guitar, drum loops, keys) & shalita (bass guitar, percussion, vox). recorded and mixed at schenk studio during the summer of 2021. produced by jan schenk and michiel. mastered by jasper boogaard. c&p 2021 lewsberg under license to 12XU.

preorder LP/CS ‘In Your Hands’

upcoming dates  :

6 November Badlands, Gent BE
12 November Crofters’ Rights, Bristol UK
13 November, Fusion Arts, Oxford UK
14 November, The Castle Motel, Manchester UK
15 November, Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh UK
16 November, The Hug & Pint, Glasgow UK
17 November, Bobik’s, Newcastle UK
18 November, The Smokehouse, Ipswich UK
20 November, The Festing, Portsmouth UK
21 November, The Latest Music Bar, Brighton UK
22 November Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds UK
23 November, Moth Club, London UK

(photo by Hasret Emine)

‘In This House’, the second album by Rotterdam-based Lewsberg and their first US release will be issued on LP by 12XU on April 25.

(PREORDER ‘In This House’  – 12XU  / Bandcamp*)

The quartet’s latest offering seeps into your consciousness in a different way to their debut, though their tendency towards existentialism and black humour is present throughout. Harsher in sound, but more humane in spirit, In This House refuses to let the listener settle for a single moment.

The metallic, atonal guitar strum on opening song “Left Turn” leaves no room for discussion. This is Lewsberg at work. The unnerving sound of a revving car, handbrake on, suddenly coming to an abrupt and silent halt. Is the title of this opener a warning for the listener for the rest of the set, as if we’re going down Robert Frost’s “road less traveled,” or is it just a description of this lonesome character’s unexpected behaviour in this particular song?

‘In This House’ is full of surprises. The teasing guitar break on “From Never to Once”. The two instrumentals “Trained Eye” and “Interlude”. The emotionally affecting ballad, “The Door”. And there’s the pairing of the last two tracks: the fatalistic “Jacob’s Ladder” and the wild, evocative “Standard Procedures” —- as if each piece works independently from the other, gazing back occasionally on what came before and, in turn, adding a different flavour to what comes next.

“Cold Light of Day” and “Tbrough the Garden” are textbook Lewsberg ; 2 songs, provocative and enchanting in their minimalism. Whilst “At Lunch” is seemingly innocent and carefree at the start, ultimately conjures a looming sense of doubt by its conclusion.

“In this house we make mistakes
In this house we never give up”

These lines from closing song “Standard Procedures” could be the adage of the band. Not like some sort of peptalk or an expression of winner’s mentality, but as an homage to the beauty and comfort you can find in perseverance.

Lewsberg would like to draw your attention to the following:
1. Some people are nicer than they think. Some people don’t dare to show how nice they are.
2. More pixels means less imagination.
3. Next time the mice will catch the owl.
4. In Rotterdam they don’t use concrete anymore.
5. Sometimes you only find out how fragile a thing is, when you touch it for the first time.
6. Not every good deed is part of a plan.
7. There’s comfort in continuous toil.
8. In this house we make mistakes. In this house we never give up. The door is always open.


Lewsberg are Arie van Vliet (guitar, vocals), Michiel Klein (guitar), Shalita Dietrich (bass, vocals), and Dico Kruijsse (drums)
Music by Michiel Klein.
Music for “At Lunch” and “The Door” by Arie van Vliet & Michiel Klein.
Recorded & mixed at Sahara Sound Studio.
Produced by Henk Koorn & Michiel Klein.
Mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk.

Lewsberg on tour
March 27, ACU, Utrecht, NL
March 28, Extrapool, Nijmegen, NL
April 5, Hafen 2, Offenbach DE
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pril 6, Monarch, Berlin DE
April 7, Gastfeld, Bremen, DE
April 8, Tape, Aarhus, DK
April 9, Vera, Groningen NL
April 16, Latest Music Bar, Brighton UK
April 17, The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth UK
April 18, The Smokehouse, Ipswich UK
April 19, Bobiks, Newcastle UK
April 20, Brudenell Social Club, Leeds UK
April 21, Crofters Rights, Bristol UK
April 22, Moth Club, London UK
April 25, Rotown, Rotterdam NL

(outside of North America, ‘In This House’ is self-released by the band and available via Cargo Distribution)