Remember

“This album is all about contrasts,” Weval’s Harm Coolen tells Apple Music. “It’s mixing in-your-face, heavy dance music with a joyful hopefulness to make you move.” Since forming in 2012, Dutch duo Harm Coolen and Merijn Scholte Albers have been crafting melodically intricate electronic tracks with an underlying acoustic warmth. Theirs is a sound full of earworming melodies and luscious arrangements, producing 2016’s self-titled debut album and *The Weight* in 2019. On their latest release, *Remember*, they pay homage to their decade in music by piecing together fragments of long-standing unreleased songs with fresh, emphatic production. The result is 11 infectiously energetic tracks, from the soaring vocal hooks of “Never Stay for Love” to the earthy funk of “Everything Went Well” and the distorted rhythms of “Losing Days.” “It’s a propulsive record but one with a positive feeling,” Coolen says. “It’s made from the longing to play loud and to let people have fun with the music.” Read on for Coolen and Albers’ in-depth thoughts on the album, track by track. **“Remember”** Harm Coolen: “‘Remember’ is one of the final tracks we made for the record. We had been working on the album for three and a half years already but we were still searching for new ideas to help round out its contrasts.” Merijn Scholte Albers: “We were on the road in LA and stopped into the studio to jam with our friend, producer Daniel Lynas. It was meant to just be a hang but then we came up with the stems for ‘Remember.’ It had a perfect, positive feeling and, once we got back home, we built the vocal line and knew it would be the ideal opener.” **“Everything Went Well”** HC: “Over the summer, we spent a week in Germany with a group of other artist friends—this was one of the tracks we wrote there. I’d just gotten back from a one-off therapy session using psychedelics, and I had an amazing experience. It’s not something I usually do but the lyrics were influenced by that unique moment, since the first sentences that came out of my mouth were about how you feel when everything goes well. It’s an uplifting song about looking back with gratitude.” **“Losing Days”** MSA: “This was one of the first tracks we wrote for the album, encapsulating that feeling of the two worlds of distortion and hopeful melodies combining. The beat is really heavy, like it might blow up your speakers, but the chords are so soothing.” HC: “This track started the whole concept of the record. It’s meant to be played with the volume loud and blazing.” **“Where It All Leads”** HC: “We had the elements of the track that would go on to become ‘Where It All Leads’ for quite some time but we didn’t know how to fully piece it together. We didn’t want to overload it, so we focused on the groove and its harshness, which gave new context to the sweet vocal lines on top.” MSA: “This has a similar concept to ‘Losing Days,’ starting with a heavy beat and a compressed, gritty sound then layering on a hopeful melody.” **“Don’t Lose Time”** MSA: “The final 20 seconds of ‘Don’t Lose Time’ is a snippet of the first demo we made of the track. That used to be a five-minute song that we were very happy with, but it didn’t quite fit with the sound of the new record.” HC: “It was almost too sentimental, so we shifted it into a rave direction and really embraced our dance music influences. We knew we had gotten it right because we just wanted to dance in the studio when we came up with it!” **“Never Stay for Love” (feat. Eefje de Visser)** HC: “Eefje was one of the artists staying in the house we rented in Germany, and we asked her to feature on another tune, ‘Is That How You Feel It.’ We jammed for a while over that instrumental, and she did an incredible job. So much so that when we isolated the vocal track and worked on it further, it became an entirely new song, which is ‘Never Stay for Love.’” MSA: “That reworking is something we do quite often now. It’s a fun way to surprise yourself by switching vocals from different chord progressions.” **“Day After Day”** MSA: “This is another fragment of an old idea—a song called ‘Days’ from 2016. We had tried to finish it for years but we always failed. We loved the basic idea but didn’t know how to fill in the other elements until I pitched the chords down one day and it became an entirely new thing. It has this driving, big-beat feel, which is exactly how we wanted the whole record to be. The song is like a train, it just keeps on going.” **“Changed for the Better”** HC: “‘Changed for the Better’ came out of our longing to play live again during the pandemic. We wanted to make a tune that we could play in front of a crowd once things reopened, something where the vocals are clear and punchy and that incorporates dance elements to get people moving.” MSA: “It was the perfect single for us to release as it embodies the new direction we’re exploring. It’s in-your-face, fun, and full of distorted 808 kick drums.” “I Saw You” HC: “This was another late addition to the album. Since so many of the other tracks are driving and more intense, we needed a breather and something to showcase a more uplifting side to the darker elements. Even though ‘I Saw You’ is upbeat and almost drum ’n’ bass tempo, it embodies that lightness we were looking for in its melodies.” **“Is That How You Feel It”** HC: “Eefje’s initial vocal take for this track ended up becoming the basis for ‘Never Stay for Love,’ so we were then left with a gap where we needed new lyrics and vocals. I was playing around and recording some lines and ended up slowing down the track while jamming. It suddenly made my vocal take on a great vibrato and soulful feel. It’s not our typical sound but it just fits perfectly here.” **“Forever”** HC: “‘Forever’ is another example of us stitching together pieces of old tracks to make something new. The beat on the song is around three years old, while the vocal was taken from another demo. We added a rave-y, acid synth line to a 120 BPM dancy feel and hopeful lyrics on being thankful for everything that has come before. As soon as we made it, we knew it was the only way to end the album.”

Amsterdam-based duo Weval (made up of Harm Coolen & Merijn Scholte Albers) announce their long awaited new album “Remember”, out 3rd March on Ninja Tune imprint Technicolour. With the announcement the duo share a new single “Don’t Lose Time”. The album embarks on a high energy journey of nostalgic memories and euphoric emotions, seeing the electronic duo reminisce on their own musical journey while reflecting on key influences and inspiration over the years. “We played and embraced this with unshameful nostalgic feelings around discovering music as young music fans” they commented. ‘Remember’ plays around with memory and its ability to distort. As Weval elaborate, “Time is constantly escaping you and when you look back, memories distort - sometimes negatively, sometimes fake, sometimes euphoric and romanticised.” This central theme is explored in sonic contrasts as Weval employ heavily contorted beats with the potential to destroy speakers, only to be salvaged from the brink of collapse by melodically hopeful chords. Their new bombastic sound came as a result of new songwriting methods that saw Weval mashing together seemingly disparate ideas that held completely different lives and energies. Elements of pop, dance and every genre in between are thrown in and whittled down to make their most intense, spontaneous and substantial work to date. The upcoming album follows on from the 2022 singles "Never Stay For Love", featuring Dutch singer-songwriter Eefje de Visser, and “Forever”. Both tracks offered early previews to ‘Remember’, leaning on highly textured, driving and sophisticated electronica which the duo have become widely known for. Weval are well known amongst peers and critics for their beautifully composed melodies and songwriting. Previous press coverage includes impressive support from Pitchfork, Billboard, The Line of Best Fit, Resident Advisor, DJ Mag, Mixmag, Clash, SPIN, Brooklyn Vegan, Crack Magazine, Dummy, Magnetic Mag, The Vinyl Factory and more. Radio highlights include a live performance at the historic Maida Vale studio for BBC Radio 1’s Residency series (alongside artists such as Moderat, Darkstar, Gold Panda, Jessy Lanza and AKASE), plus support from the likes of Lauren Laverne, Tom Ravenscroft, KEXP, KCRW, SiriusXMU, Beats In Space and many more. Their music has been featured in TV shows Good Girls, Industry, and the HBO hit drama I May Destroy You by Michaela Coel. Weval recently completed a EU/UK and US tour with stops along Berlin, Istanbul, Brooklyn, Miami, LA, Vancouver and more. They have previously performed with a live five-piece band to emphatic festival crowds at Primavera Sound, Sonar Festival Istanbul, DGTL Amsterdam, Lightning In A Bottle, OSHEAGA, Lost Village, Lowlands, Down The Rabbit Hole, Best Kept Secret and many more. They’ll return to the stage this Spring on a run of EU/UK and North America dates. Tickets go on sale Friday, 20th January at 10am local time. About Weval: First meeting in 2010, Harm and Merijn formed their formidable creative alliance back in 2012 when they were both working in film - when Harm brought Merijn on board to assist with a music video for some friends in a band. They began experimenting together, enjoying the music production more than the filmmaking. Neither had experience of making music before forming Weval, so they have evolved organically together throughout their partnership. It’s an ongoing project that evolves naturally, each new release a learning experience that feeds back into their creative output.

Weval pore beats and static all over the melodies on their dense textural new album, 'Remember', which only highlights how melodic it really is.