A happy feelbad from one of Belgium’s greatest talents, J. Bernardt.
While Balthazar, one of the current giants of the Belgian scene and probably one of our best bands ever, has not been releasing any new music recently, their members are very active with side projects. Maarten Devoldere (Warhaus) and Simon Casier (Zimmerman) started their own bands, Patricia Vanneste lent her skills to some songs of upcoming talent Low Land Home.
As good as, or maybe even better than the others is J. Bernardt, the alter ego of Jinthe Deprez. Just like the music of his colleagues, the songs he released so far have a certain Balthazar colour, amongst others thanks to the voices, but they also have an own twist.
“Wicked Streets” is full of drama, consisting of both hope and despair. It’s like a sad feelgood song regretting things that have gone wrong, or a happy feelbad song looking forward to a future that can only be better than the present.
What all these solo projects are proving is that Balthazar is really a brilliant band, combining many different talents. And for once we can say that the separate parts are almost as great as the sum, which is rather exceptional.
“Like Balthazar itself”, some might say, and we couldn’t agree more.
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