Blaudzun
Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands | INDIE
Music
Press
Oor Magazine: "Incredibly beautiful."
NRC: "One of the most ambitious records of Dutch origin. Rare emotional depth."
Indiefuzz.com: “Blaudzun: a genius in disguise”
Diskant.dk: “Blaudzun puts the Netherlands on the European musical map”
De Volkskrant: "At times monumental album."
Nieuwe Revue: "A record of constant high level. Each song contains vocal lines to cherish."
Kristianstadsbladet.se: “Beautifully arranged”
De Standaard: "Pretty staggering, overwhelming pop." - Excerpts from different international newspapers and blogs on Heavy Flowers.
Discography
2008 Blaudzun (LP) - Blaudzun
2010 Seadrift Soundmachine (LP) - Blaudzun
2012 Heavy Flowers (LP) - Blaudzun
USA release of Heavy Flowers January 2013!
(no singles listed above)
Photos
Bio
In 2012 Holland based singer-songwriter Blaudzun releases
follow up album Heavy Flowers (V2 Benelux) his most dynamic LP to date, in which his remarkable voice, haunting melodies and dramatic string arrangements coincides with a love for folk and art rock. With this third collection of songs Blaudzun again surpasses his previous work. Critics consider him one of the best kept secrets in European indie pop. But that won't be for too long.
Indiefuzz:
“Blaudzun: a genius in disguise”
De Standaard:
"Pretty staggering, overwhelming pop."
Ever since the release of his debut album in 2008, singer-songwriter Johannes Sigmond goes by the name of Blaudzun. He surprised music fans and critics, and received rave reviews which he even surpassed with his second album Seadrift Soundmachine (2010). The widely
acclaimed album and subsequent live shows caused his definite breakthrough in the Netherlands. His music has been likened to indie pop and folk rock and is aesthetically compared to Arcade Fire as well as to Ryan Adams and Antony & The Johnsons. The various comparisons show that it is difficult to stick just one label on this man’s work.
MTV Iggy:
"It pretty much encapsulates that strong, goosebump-inducing indie rock mood of 2004 when Arcade Fire dropped Funeral"
NRC:
"One of the most ambitious records of Dutch origin. Rare emotional depth."
Heavy Flowers USA release (by Krian Music Group) will be January 2013.
2012 - present
Heavy Flowers was released in The Netherlands, Belgium and Scandinavia earlier this year and hit number 4 in the Dutch Top 100 Album Charts in the first week. Critics and music fans have labeled his third record as a stunning and incredible successor. Blaudzun and his fellow musicians (including his brother Jakob Sigmond) made big impression at Eurosonic/Noorderslag 2012 and sold out their entire club tour in advance.
Single 'Flame On My Head' became an instant classic on Studio Brussel (Belgian national radio) and hit both their Hotlist and the prestigious Afrekening charts. In March Blaudzun was nominated as Best Alternative for a 3FM Award (Dutch national radio).
2010 - 2011
Blaudzun made big impressions at the big summer festivals in Holland, including Into The Great Wide Open and Lowlands. He ended the year with a sold out club tour.
2009
In September 2009 he finished recording Seadrift Soundmachine (V2 Benelux) during sessions with The City of Prague Orchestra, known for its filmscores (Das Leben Der Anderen, and David Lynch’ Lost Highway). Blaudzun again wrote most of the songs in his beloved Barcelona and recorded in different studios in the Netherlands and Prague.
2006 - 2008
Johannes Sigmond (Arnhem, Netherlands - 1974) played for years in various bands and projects before he continued as a singer-songwriter in 2006. Named Blaudzun, called after a relatively unknown Danish cyclist from the 70s, he works in 2007 on a special song collection of songs, originally intended to be a soundtrack for a midnight car drive. He heads south to Barcelona to work on new material. In his residence near Amsterdam he records most of the songs in a small bedroom, added with sessions in several studios in the Netherlands and hotel rooms in Barcelona, Spain.
Blaudzun toured the Benelux states in 2008 including Metropolis Festival and supported Norwegian singer Ane Brun and Mark Eitzel's American Music Club.
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