When it comes to gender equality, the Belgian music scene might be one of the best pupils of the class.

We have wonderful established female artists like Selah Sue, Axelle Red and An Pierlé while some interesting underground bands like Brutus, Rumours and Whispering Sons are fronted by young ladies. Furthermore there’s a wave of female duos that seems to be crawling to the top. Is it a coincidence that the last two Belgian acts we presented were Lili Grace and Juicy? Well here’s the next one, Esther & Fatou from Leuven, Belgium’s best known university town.

“Home” is the first single of their upcoming debut EP that will be released later this year via the renowned PIAS Recordings and that is produced by Gaetan Vandewoude from Isbells. It displays some ingredients that I expected, like the folky joie de vivre combined with some arty sounds. At the same time we are witnessing a background fight between the easy listening vocals and handclaps on the one hand and the unruly instrumental parts that choose the adventurous path on the other hand.

The exact release date of the EP still has to be determined. What we do know is that it will contain 5 songs with which the girls want to let the world know what the typical Esther & Fatou sound is, each in their own way. Quite a few people from Leuven and beyond have been looking forward to this EP for some years now. The wait’s almost over, and a song like “Home” makes us believe that the EP will live up to the expectations.

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Esther & Fatou on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Soundcloud.