Liam Pek Re-releases ‘From The Forest’
Liam Pek has spent his whole life around music and musicians. The 24-year-old Dutch singer-songwriter is making a name for himself, not only at home but also here in Canada. He’s partnered up with producer / engineer / mixer / masterer / player Russ Mackay of Blue Sound and Music, here in Toronto. Russ has taken Liam’s album ‘From The Forest‘ and remixed and remastered it.
Liam’s voice is intoxicating. It vacillates between being ethereal and gossamer to solid and substantial. The piano is poignant. Together, they’re superb. You can hear The Beatles’ influence, and while listening, it made me think about The Beach Boys’ album Pet Sounds. I found that I could put the album on, set it to repeat and leave on all afternoon. It sets a beautiful tone and makes for a chill soundtrack for your day.
“There was a Grand Piano, and a Fender Rhodes, and that was it. Some of his flutes, too. I didn’t have or play guitar at the time, I just used what was there. I immediately started writing and couldn’t stop.” – Liam Pek
If you’re a fan of Andy Shauf, Rufus Wainwright, Amanda Palmer, or Florence + the Machine, then Liam Pek might become your new favourite artist.
We were able to get Liam to answer some questions about the album, his background, the video for the title track “From The Forest”, and more.
Photo Credit: Daan Hutting
Q&A
Can you tell us a little about who you are, your first musical memory, about the music scene in Amsterdam, and coming together with Russ Mackay at Blue Sound?
I recently discovered that I was quite spiritual and philosophic as a child. I used to do rituals and meditate intuitively for hours when I was younger (apparently). I met up with an old friend, Niels Gercama, not too long ago, he’s moved to Berlin and he’s making these incredible and crazy artworks right now. He told me something that had stuck with him all his life. I didn’t even remember this but he said that one time when we were kids I asked him to bear with me on this one. I said: “Imagine the entire world you know, having the color black. Everything is black. If you would have the opposite of this world it would be a world that is completely white right?”
His answer was obviously yes since it wasn’t that hard to follow. “And the other way around you would have a world completely black right?” Again his answer was yes of course. “But now imagine a world that is the opposite of both those worlds. It would be a world that is neither black or white and both black and white at the same time.” Now you have to understand Niels is insanely intelligent and creative. Knowing that something I said stuck with him for all these years made me feel quite honoured.
Anyway, not a musical memory but remembering all that made me realise this life one way or another would have made me be an artist in some way. My dad’s a musician you know? So he took me and my brother on tour with him. Jazz music. Later would learn to hate and then love it again but apparently, as a child, I was always moving to that music. I suppose children understand more than grown-ups sometimes. Always listening to Steely Dan in the car. It was great growing up with music like that. Definitely gave me some intuitive musical education that has been of great use since I actually started making it myself.
Amsterdam is great, I have incredible people around me and I can not be more thankful for their support. I love my friends and colleagues here, they mean a lot to me. I’ve had the privilege to play some shows with them, it was amazing. I’ve always felt the need to go abroad though. To travel and meet new people and cultures is an incredible inspiration. That’s why I went to America and Canada a while ago. That entire trip was insane. And well the most incredible things in my life came from decisions that seemed impulsive but were strongly driven by intuition, and so did this. I met Russ while recording drums with my brother in the Blue Sound studio. We immediately clicked and after hearing the song we were recording he offered to help me on my musical journey. Which brings us to this release today!
Who are your biggest influences?
I started singing because of Robert Plant. But my influences are all over the place. I would say the 60’s in general are a very big chunk of it. But also artists as beck, Elliott Smith and Patrick Watson. I have to say though I’m more influenced by the world in general. The people I meet, the sounds I hear, things I read and the stories people tell. I love that I am able to express things that can not be expressed. that’s art you know? Touching that vast ocean of mysticism in our reality. The things we can’t and don’t need to explain but we can feel them. Basically, if there is a god, a one consciousness or whatever you want to call it, we get closest to it through art. So that is my true inspiration. The unexplainable metaphors of the universe.
What bands/artists are you listening to now?
I’m listening to a lot of Brazilian music now. Can’t believe I missed out on it all my life. It’s amazing. Maybe I’m biased because my girlfriend is Brazilian and because I just discovered it but they basically did every music era of western music… but better. And they have incredibly beautiful traditional music too! Anyway, I’m in love with their music right now. Other than that I will always listen to The Beatles. There’s just no way around it.
Liam Pek – From The Forest
Tell me about the songwriting for ‘From the Forest’.
Well, it’s the first album I recorded. Some of the first songs I wrote are on this album. So it was all very intuitive. I was also very perfectionistic, which is complicated when you don’t really know what you’re doing. But it did give this album a very unique twist to it without it sounding like a nut behind a piano.
I only had a few instruments on hand and I was determined to do the whole thing alone so it was a challenge. I ended up asking my brother Guy Pek to play bongos on one track cause I really needed those bongos on it. This album was kind of my fortune-teller weirdly enough. I wrote songs without too much hesitation and a month or two later they would suddenly make complete sense in my life. Very strange and very cool. So this album is kind of me exploring the unknown in a lot of ways.
Do you have a favourite track?
I have a deep connection with ‘What Matters‘ because it was me telling myself that whatever you do, wherever you are, and whoever you are. If you want to be something you just have to go for it and whatever everyone else thinks is irrelevant.” and isn’t that universally relatable?
Pek continues: “Sometimes that’s hard because what other people think, quickly turns into your own thoughts. But if you try, you can distinguish the noise from those things that really matter to you. I’ve listened back to it many times and continue to learn new things from this song.”
Can you talk to us about the idea behind the video for “From the Forest”, and how your time filming went?
I really wanted to capture my world for this video. The world where I grew up you know? So I took this in-between analog-and-digital-era camera that my parents used to film with when I was younger and started capturing whatever made me write these songs. It was a lot of fun to do, first time making a music video and all. It’s literally mostly my parent’s house and my backyard. That’s been my life for most of it. I think you can get a pretty good idea of what it was like from watching that video.
Photo Credit: Daan Hutting
I know it seems soon to ask, but what’s next?
Next is something very special. It has already been recorded and if I can say so myself, there are some really good songs that will be coming out. I think it really is a next step musically for me. I can not wait to share it with the world!
Is there anything I didn’t ask, that you’d like to share with our readers?
Yes, lots of things. But one thing is very, very important to me. If you read this, I want to invite you to open your ears, sit down and listen to the album. Not with any intention, just with the knowledge of this article. I promise you it will make you feel something. This is not meant as a sales pitch or anything, really I’m happy that you got this far already. But as this album is an experiment for me, I would love for other people to experience that experiment. It would continue its purpose.
Just try it out and if you feel like it, or if you don’t, let me know what you think. Because I can experiment all I want and translate the universe to art. But while these things are alive for me, they really start living their own life when others experience it also. And that is what art is all about.
Liam Pek’s Links
Web / Facebook / Instagram / YouTube
Spotify / Apple / Amazon / YouTube Music / Deezer
Writer/Photographer/Editor
Toronto Music Blogger
