{"title":"Waan","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"echo-echo-2","title":"Echo Echo","description":"\u003cp\u003eWaan represents the musical marriage of seasoned saxophonist Bart Wirtz and keyboard wiz Emiel van Rijthoven. As a pair of self-confessed tech nerds hailing from The Netherlands, their bromance was a slow burning one, but nevertheless their eventual collaboration fulfilled a dream that they’d both held close since first working together back in 2010.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe symphonic soul mates formed Waan - a Dutch word literally meaning “delusion” but in the more positive sense of “living in the moment” - originally as a collaborative live band but eventually came to the conclusion that the creative process was best kept between the two of them. Any other instrumentalists were used as guest session musicians and the pair found themselves running the project in a way more akin to dance music producers. This of course had an influence on the music itself, which the duo wanted to be more crossover and have a more experimental edge to its sound.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe album’s title reflects the relationship between Waan’s two members. They are the echo of each other’s echo - a symbiotic and never ending musical relationship. The appellation also suggests that you’ll definitely need to listen to this collection of songs at least twice to discover the myriad of subtle details and influences that are on show. Influences as disparate as Floating Points, BadBadNotGood and Eddie Harris. \u003ci\u003eEcho Echo \u003c\/i\u003eis far more complex than just being a dance music influenced jazz record. Co-producer Oscar de Jong encouraged the pair to play freely as part of a jazz group and then add the electronic elements. As a result the album owes as much to Duke Ellington and Lalo Schiffrin as it does NERD and The Eurythmics!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sonar Kollektiv","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50406700745035,"sku":"2007448","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50406701793611,"sku":"2007449","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Echo_Echo_8956305e_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726589514"},{"product_id":"we-want-waan-1","title":"We Want WAAN","description":"\u003cp\u003eDutch duo WAAN return with their sophomore album \u003cem\u003eWe Want WAAN\u003c\/em\u003e, a genre-defying exploration of rhythm, improvisation, and emotion - on Sonar Kollektiv.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFollowing the critical acclaim of their 2023 debut Echo Echo— which earned two Edison Award nominations and strong support from press and radio (including BBC Radio 2’s Jamie Cullum) — saxophonist Bart Wirtz and keyboardist Emiel van Rijthoven push their musical conversation further on \u003cem\u003eWe Want WAAN\u003c\/em\u003e. What emerges is a deeply textured, cinematic album that fuses jazz, electronics, and beat culture with raw emotional clarity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe album’s creative spark was ignited on the remote Dutch island of Texel, where the pair retreated in summer 2024 to write freely — unburdened by format, genre, or expectation. “Whatever the track needs, we give it,” WAAN explains. That simple principle opened the door to sweeping strings, broken time signatures, crowd recordings, and boundary-pushing collaborations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA key moment arrives with “Been Blue,” a striking fusion of jazz and hip-hop featuring Philadelphia rapper, singer, and producer Ivy Sole — a powerful voice in the global non-binary music movement. Known for their poetic lyricism and emotional nuance, Sole brings a defiant vulnerability to the track, touching on grief, identity, and resistance. The result is one of the album’s most affecting and genre-transcending moments.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the meditative opening of “We Want WAAN” to the rhythm-forward intensity of “Mirrors” and “Lodge Texas”, the album balances intricacy with soul. Tracks like “Talking Trees” and “In Doubt” drift into melancholic trip-hop, while “Moto No Oto” and “In Dreams” lean into ambient jazz textures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe album was produced in collaboration with Oscar de Jong (Kraak \u0026amp; Smaak), it reflects the tension and beauty of WAAN’s musical identity: one foot in the jazz tradition, the other deep in a future-facing, improvisational sound world.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sonar Kollektiv","offers":[{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":55824988537163,"sku":"R0823-3186","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/unnamed-2025-11-03T145947.319.jpg?v=1762181995"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/collections\/waan.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}