No.9

“There’s a musical duality in me. On one side I’m very classical; strings, orchestras, the intellectual, cerebral part. On the other side I’m all about bass and groove.” Wende

Wende has changed course: from chansonière to singer/songwriter, from French to English.
For her new album she wrote and composed all songs herself in collaboration with Jan van Eerd. Wende’s sound became more personal and intimate than ever before but without loosing any intensity in the process.

Composing and writing her own songs isn’t an entirely new experience for Wende.
On her debut album ‘Quand tu dors’ she composed three songs herself on existing lyrics, including the songs ‘La quête’ and ‘Quand tu dors’. On it’s successor ‘La fille noyée’ Wende took the next step and not only composed some of the songs but wrote the lyrics for some of them as well, which resulted in the award winning piece ‘De Wereld Beweegt’.
The third album, Chante!, featured the first collaboration with songwriter Jan van Eerd:
‘Die begin van d Aarde’ with lyrics of Antjie Krog.
With these experiences in mind the desire of Wende to create an entire album with
self written and composed songs didn’t came as a surprise.

“Because of the success of the chansons most people expected me to continue in this genre, maybe even forever. But why? As an eleven year old girl I didn’t dream of becoming a
chansonière, I dreamed of making music. Yes, the chansons gave me that opportunity but the opportunity to make music isn’t limited to singing chansons. I’ve always felt challenged by great songwriters such as Kurt Weil, Bertolt Brecht, Cole Porter, Stephen Sondhei and Charles Ives. Just not at this moment. I don’t denounce the tradition, but for now I’m interested in creating my own music and the development in my work.” Wende

During the period of a year Wende, together with Jan van Eerd, developed her own repertoire. They wouldn’t limit themselves to boundaries in genre or musical taste and finally ended up with a huge collection of songs. From that collection an album slowly emerged. For the production of the album they brought in producer Reyn Ouwehand,
who’s sound fit perfectly with the musical direction in which Wende and Jan van Eerd were going.

‘No.9’ is the result of this special collaboration and introduces Wende to a new genre; singer / songwriter. The album is influenced by many of the legends in this predominantly American genre where lyrics carry most of the weight of the song, which is similar to the French chansons.

“No.9 is about letting go of the idea of earning kindness by trying too hard. Of course I want the album to become as beautiful as it possibly can be, but I’ll not try to convince you of it’s beauty. That would not only make me unhappy, but I would also loose myself if I did.”

“When I sing, there is nothing left between me and the other, or between me and the rest of my thoughts – when I sing I simply disappear.” Wende

Wende’s new album No.9 was released on the Brigadoon label on October 23rd 2009.
Her first Dutch club tour started in November of that same year.