WAAN - We Want WAAN [Sonar Kollektiv]

Format: LP in printed sleeve + download card.
CAT: SK549LP

WAAN represents the union of accomplished saxophonist Bart Wirtz and keyboard wizard Emiel van Rijthoven. Self-declared tech nerds hailing from the Netherlands, the duo finally released their debut album Echo Echo on Sonar Kollektiv in 2023, some thirteen years after their first encounter. The profoundly positive response to the LP propelled this two-man hi-tech jazz project down a path they hadn’t entirely anticipated. Not only did the album receive accolades in national newspapers and international radio shows, but it was also twice nominated for the Edison Award, the Dutch equivalent of the Grammys.

Buoyed by this recognition, WAAN embarked on a tour with their band, performing extensively across their home country and successfully translating their unique electro-acoustic sound into a captivating live show.

In July 2024, looking to capitalize on that momentum, Bart and Emiel retreated to a house in the middle of the tranquil Dutch island of Texel. There, they began sketching out new ideas in open jam sessions, laying the groundwork for what would become their second album: We Want WAAN.

“It quickly became clear that the sound was evolving,” Bart comments. “A bit rougher, more on the edge with other musical influences.”

The album opens with a mission statement: the pulsating, energetic title track We Want WAAN, driven by expansive synths, a pounding beat, and Bart’s fiery saxophone – a strident introduction to the band’s new direction. From there, the record flows into Talking Trees, a melancholic future jazz ballad inspired by the silent communication of White Pines, featuring floating sax melodies, tape-saturated drums, and René van Munster’s haunting processed cello.

Mirrors explores new sonic territories with harmonizer-processed saxophone and frenetic bass and drum passages, their live energy enhanced by the sound of a real audience vibrating in unison, recorded at the legendary jazz club De Twee Spieghels in Leiden, where Ben Webster played his last concert.

Always pushing the boundaries of their sound, WAAN incorporates post-punk, alt-rock, and distortion-laden textures into Why Don’t You Get Me, featuring raw vocals from Marta Arpini and Mingue. The mood turns darker with In Dirt, an interlude-like vignette that channels sordid film noir and breakbeat energy in under two minutes.

The course shifts again with Moto No Oto, where Bart’s lyrical sax intertwines with the lush strings of René van Munster and Beste Sevindik, offering a moment of profound stillness. In Doubt picks up the pace with nimble synth lines, setting the stage for one of the album’s most powerful moments.

That moment is Been Blue, a standout collaboration with Ivy Sole, a Philadelphia-based rapper, singer, and producer recognized for her poetic lyricism and her role in the global non-binary music movement. Her verses oscillate between vulnerability and strength, framed by hypnotic synths, pulsating drums, and WAAN’s unmistakable hybrid sound. The result is a striking fusion of jazz, hip-hop, and electronic soul: a 21st-century protest blues for restless minds.

In Dreams offers an exuberant, meditative respite before Lodge Texas shakes the listener again: an unconventional club anthem led by winding flutes and built in a 9/4 time signature. The album closes with the haunting and spiritual Cecilyum, where Emiel’s Prophet 5 mimics a church organ and Bart’s sax emerges like a ghost from the crypt, blurring the line between the sacred and the synthetic.

We Want WAAN was recorded at Eminent Studios (Leiden), with additional sessions at Longtrack Studio (Utrecht) and Kraak & Smaak Studios (Leiden). The album was produced by WAAN and Oscar de Jong (Kraak & Smaak), mixed by Oscar de Jong, and mastered by Max Gilkes.

With We Want WAAN, Bart and Emiel open their creative universe more than ever, embracing collaboration, genre fusion, and emotional honesty in a record that unites jazz tradition with a futuristic vision.