Searching for a new challenge and the desire to perform their 'dreampop' in a more intimate way resulted in the first HAEVN theatre tour. What can visitors there expect? GW spoke to songwriter Marijn van der Meer and film composer Jorrit Kleijnen....
Text: Annika Hoogeveen Photography: Rui Reis Maia; Hessel Stuut
No club tour for a while, then...
Jorrit: We toured clubs for seven years with always a standing audience. Now we are going to beautiful classical theatres, with different types of venues that also call for a different performance. It will feel more intimate, the music will be more personal. The music can be 'smaller' and therefore provide more impact.
But why a theatre tour?
Jorrit: We were curious about a different experience. We started seven years ago with the radio hit ''Where The Heart Is' broken through in a quick way. Then, when we started performing, we didn't really have time to think deeply about what we wanted to bring. By now we are years on and wiser. That affects how you look at life. Inner peace is growing and that can be heard in our music and lyrics. We dare to play our music in a smaller way, more nuanced.
We also think a theatre enthuses a different kind of audience to come. When we see pictures of the halls in Leiden or the Schouwburg in Groningen, it inspires us enormously. Those are like mini opera houses, with balconies and red plush. Change makes you eat, they say. Paradiso is an insanely beautiful place, but you can't escape the fact that when you step on stage there for the seventh time, a bit of routine creeps in. A theatre will give a fresh feeling full of magic.
Theatres also have a more prestigious reputation than pop venues
Marijn: We have had the opportunity to perform at Carré five times and the atmosphere there suits our music very well. A beautiful hall with people listening attentively.
Jorrit: We actually hope that by doing a theatre tour now and a club tour later, we can give two different perspectives on HAEVN. Because a club tour is more focused on louder music and move, while in theatre there is more room for a slightly longer personal anecdote or a brighter solo.
So the type of stage determines the shape and content of your show?
Jorrit: You dress for the occasion. It's fun to challenge ourselves, to show the different sides. For example, what we will do in the theatre tour is that the whole band will come out from behind its instrument, drummer from behind the drum kit and cellist from behind the cello, and we will all stand in a circle around a microphone to perform a song a cappella with guitar. That's a musical vulnerability we haven't taken on so far, because we find it exciting.
However, while rehearsing it, we perhaps had the most fun together. Doing something vulnerable like that creates a huge connection between the five musicians on stage. I think the audience is going to feel that too.
And the personal stories during the theatre tour add to the vulnerability?
Jorrit: Yes indeed, but that's just fine. I believe that any person who makes himself vulnerable and feels that that vulnerability is received in a good way does not regret it. During the years we have been touring, it is the moments when something goes wrong in a show -a misplayed note or the technique breaking down because of the heat- that make the connection with the audience the greatest. Then you have to improvise and the audience sees that you are not an artist who comes to do his show for a while, but also a flesh-and-blood human being where things can go wrong.
Is there any new music for people who saw your previous performances to hear?
Marijn: Yes indeed. We try to make every tour and performance different anyway, with different arrangements. For our loyal audience, we have a new show with brand new music and also different performances of certain songs.
How would you personally describe HAEVN's 'dreampop'?
Marijn: That is indeed what it is called. Our music offers comfort to many people and is a kind of multi-faceted musical journey: it often starts quietly and the listener goes through several chapters before finally landing slowly again.
Jorrit: That term dreampop was coined by someone else, but we can relate to it. We hope that our music provides a canvas to take your thoughts beyond normal. Taking you out of the here and now. It's like a soundtrack for a distant journey of thought.
What does music represent to you?
Jorrit: When words fall short of expressing (depicting) a certain feeling, music goes further in that. Whether it's infatuation or bliss. Or when you feel a little down. Nobody wants to stay locked in their body with that feeling. For us, making music and listening to it means resonating that feeling. It is our main outlet. The greatest gift you can give yourself is making music that you find fantastic to listen to. That's a bizarre feeling of bliss, even if it's a sad song.
What is the state of your collaboration?
(both laugh) Marijn: Good question. In fact, Jorrit and I are very different. I am more quiet and less enterprising and Jorrit is busier and very enterprising. We are opposites and the great thing is that we complement each other. Because no matter how much we differ, we always find each other in the middle and that's where our music originates.
Jorrit: Indeed, we are very different, even in our musical tastes. But if you put our musical tastes side by side like circles, you see a clear overlap. And that is exactly where the powerful energy field that is HAEVN lies.
The HAEVN theatre tour can be seen in several Dutch theatres and will have its last performance on 28 April 2023.