Loupe - Do You Ever Wonder What Comes Next? (2023) Hi Res

Amsterdam indie rock quartet Loupe has the odd gift of sounding thrilling and alarming within the same instant. The band’s singer and lyricist Julia (vocals/keys – she/her) explores themes of young adulthood, life in the big city and human relationships over a weave of rousing harmonies, free-flowing rhythms and expressive vocals.

Besides Julia, the band consists of Jasmine (guitar – they/them), Lana (bass – she/her) and Annemarie van der Born (drums – she/her). Everything immediately fell into place with the critically acclaimed first single “Leave Me There”, which sparked the band’s initial notoriety. Over the past two years, Loupe has steadily risen to new heights with the EPs Older (2021) and Spring '19 (2022). This earned the band a growing reputation as a stage act with memorable shows at various marquee showcase festivals. Loupe was also allowed to provide support shows for indie favorites such as Porridge Radio and Moss.

The band's highly anticipated debut LP - Do You Ever Wonder What Comes Next? (out on April 21st via Excelsior and Sinnbus) – explores coming-of-age subjects both within the songwriting and through collaborations with artists from other disciplines. The vibrant collage-like album artwork created by Ukrainian graphic designer Karaska shows the band standing on top of a building, as colors and images spread around them.

According to Julia, much of the material revolves around finding something to hold on to amidst the heat of the hustle and bustle, and adjusting to a new busy environment full of impulses. “For me it was all a kind of transition, with 'on the one hand 'the new life and all the cool things that come with it. And on the other hand, the uncertainty of being alone in the big city and the adult world.”

"Lonely Dance" is about how building your life path can lead to sometimes sobering déjà vu’s. That struggle took further shape in the striking video clip that the band made with visual artist Jeroen Jongeleen, in which he constantly runs over the same circle. Sometimes life feels hopeless: a constant repetition of the same patterns. But from a different perspective, one can rediscover the value of sticking to it each and every day.

Do You Ever Wonder What Comes Next? was recorded with producer Arne van Petegem (Moss, Styrofoam) and mixed by Beau Sorenson (Death Cab For Cutie, Sparklehorse). The sessions embodied a renewed mining of ideas within Loupe's established band-driven sound: there is room for playful electronic experiments, such as with the drum computer-driven "Boat Flight". The heady moments in which the band gives full throttle on stage got more depth and control during the recordings. Annemarie’s aerodynamic grooves snake and swerve like a blindfolded gymnast on a tightrope. Lana’s fluid bass safeguards melody and pulse with warmth and wanderlust. Jasmine's sparkplug playing, meanwhile, can jump from flicker to full-blown pyrotechnics, equally versed in wailing walls of reverbed feedback, frosty post-punk gloom and intricate folk mantras.

Songs like “I Keep Changing”, “Vortex” and “Holding Me Too Tight” are full of subtle twists that address life’s bigger dilemmas with wit and yearning energy. Second single "Caught In The Moment" outlines a well-known quest: how do you protect your dreams, your desires and your thirst for what’s next in the midst of the grind of existence? "The song confronts you with the walls that surround you physically and mentally," Julia explains. “And how they limit your growth, experiences and life happiness.”

If anything drives the band, it's the ‘what’s next?’-part of life’s ever-complicated equation; that constant movement to keep chasing that silver lining beyond the horizon. It’s palpable within the songs themselves, and the band’s ambitions going forward. You can count on Loupe to highlight the spirit, solace and adventure within the restless everyday.