Christof van der Ven’s Adventures Hold Us Throughout Solid Debut
Empty Handed, the debut full-length record from Dutch singer-songwriter Christof van der Ven, was a decade in the making. During that decade, van der Ven’s home base changed from the Netherlands to Ireland to the UK, he toured extensively with the London-based band Bear’s Den, and he released a handful of EPs. The experiences that van der Ven gained in those ten years haunt every track of his sprawling LP, and he presents them with charming wonderment.
The first words of Empty Handed are “Hold me!” Paired with the album’s title, van der Ven immediately gives off the impression that he’s ready to accept anything that comes his way — for better or worse. This openness becomes more apparent as the record unfolds and van der Ven is steadily in a state of awe. With a plodding electronic beat as the anchor, van der Ven celebrates nature’s beauty on “No One Is Here,” and then a few tracks later he lauds the tranquility of a winter’s night in the country on the warmly layered (featuring backing vocals from English trio The Staves) “Oh When the Night.”
As van der Ven moves from countrysides to cityscapes, his experiences are less restful but equally memorable. While touring with Bear’s Den, van der Venwas denied entry into the US from Canada and was forced to stay in Montreal for a few days. From that adventure came “From Montreal,” a synth-infused, revelational-sounding song about loneliness and growth. On closer “Vancouver,” van der Ven is shocked and angered at the drug crisis the Canadian city faces, and Empty Handed is dissolved by the song’s horn section, whose tones are akin to wails of grief.
Van der Ven keeps a steady pace throughout the album. He has a handful of sparse, folk tracks like the tender standout “Love’s Glory” and the simply picked “Killed This Stone-Dead.” But elsewhere van der Ven strays from this quietness with great results. “You Left It Too Long” is an anthemic pop-rock track whose chorus is the most memorable moment of the album, and, unexpectedly, “Never Never” has a fun, ’80s synth-rock vibe about it.
On his beguiling debut Empty Handed, van der Ven reminds you that even if it doesn’t feel like it in the moment, every adventure is worth having.