ANDERSON - "It Runs In The Family" - Biography 2008

 

Meet the Bensons – ten estranged relatives living separate lives across the globe. Like all families, they can’t seem to manage with or without each other, being miles apart, but sharing their deepest feelings through the occasional postcard.

Besides being related, these ten individuals have something else in common: they each get their own song on "It Runs In The Family", the terrific new album by Anderson.

To refresh your memory, Anderson is an indie-pop duo from The Netherlands, consisting of Bas van Nienes and Jeroen van der Werken. Their debut album "We Radio Anderson" was released by Dutch label Volkoren (16 Horsepower, At The Close Of Every Day) in 2005. A mix of singer/songwriter-pop and fizzy electronics, the album drew rave reviews from the music press, not just in Holland, but throughout Europe, and even in Japan, where it was released by Thistime Records. Successful tours followed through western Europe, the USA, and Japan.

Back to the new album. All this global travelling has obviously left its mark on Anderson. "It Runs In The Family" is not only thematically more ambitious than its predecessor, telling one central story through different characters from across the world, the music is also bolder. Comparisons to artists like The Postal Service and The Notwist still stand, but the warm intimacy of the first record is enhanced with heavier beats and synths, and irresistible eighties-grooves that could make anyone from Prince to The Pet Shop Boys run to the dance floor.

Besides writing and performing, Bas and Jeroen also produced and recorded "It Runs In The Family", with additional recording by René de Vries (This Beautiful Mess) and Martijn Groeneveld (Solo), who also mixed the record. Lydia van Maurik-Wever (Brown Feather Sparrow) provided backing vocals.

Honouring the tradition at Volkoren, the first 2000 editions of the new CD are presented with dazzling artwork, including postcards from all ten family-members that are linked to their personal songs on the album. What’s on the Benson’s minds? The usual stuff: love, nostalgia, loneliness, doubt, anger, boredom, city life, clubbing, being hospitalized, running a company, alien abduction…

This could be about your own family.