The new single by The Dutch, Alida Pott, released on May 6th, is an homage to the 20th-century Groningen painter of the same name, a prominent member of the artists’ collective De Ploeg.
The Dutch has been active since the eighties. The band toured the pop venues for years with new wave music. This Is Welfare and Another Sunny Day became hits in The Netherlands, and two albums were released on the Epic label (now Sony): This Is Welfare and Under The Surface. In 1986 the band broke up. The four members were first absorbed in Siobhan, which was short-lived. Then everyone went their own musical way. In 2014, The Dutch got together again in its original form, for a reunion show in Paradiso, Amsterdam. That was so much fun that the band decided to work on a new repertoire. So far this has led to the album Four in 2016, the mini albums Werkman (2018) and Enter Sanctuary (2020), and a series of singles. The band has performed in pop temples such as Paradiso, Vera, Patronaat and De Boerderij.
The Dutch has remained faithful to its musical style throughout its existence: idiosyncratic, richly arranged pop and rock. Typically “European” influences can often be heard in instrumentation and chords. Lyrically as well, The Dutch continues to reflect on the spirit of the times as a politically engaged band, sometimes with biting sarcasm. After the return in 2014, a theme was added: the cross-fertilization between pop music and art. Musically, lyrically and visually, The Dutch is inspired by the work of other artists, such as on the EP Werkman.
Solid Ground
This is also the case on the new album Solid Ground, which is scheduled for October. One of the songs on Solid Ground is the single Alida Pott, which is out now. The Dutch experiments in Alida Pott with a folk-like setting. Fragments of dobro, banjo, brass and slide guitar color the three-quarter time, and the clear voice of Fay Lovsky can be heard in chorus and bridge.
In Alida Pott, singer Hans Croon asks Alida (Ali for friends) why she quit her artistic career so early to devote herself to her family. She was (happily) married to George Martens, a colleague painter at the Groningen artist collective De Ploeg, they had two sons. Alida’s work faded into obscurity for a long time, and only recently, around the 100th anniversary of De Ploeg, received the deserved attention. Was it the traditional male-female division of roles that made her decide to put away her brush and drawing supplies? In any case, her watercolors, often studies of the Groningen landscape, and her drawings and collages are intriguing and idiosyncratic.
It is no coincidence that the Groninger Museum opens an exhibition of her work on the same date that Alida Pott is released. The video clip that The Dutch made for the single, in collaboration with animator Iris Frankhuizen, is part of that exhibition.
The Dutch is:
Hans Croon: vocals, guitars and alto sax
Bert Croon: keyboards and vocals
Jan de Kruijf: bass and vocals
Klaas Jonkmans: drums and vocals
More information: thedutchband.com.