Beginners

Beginners are 3 girls and two guys from Amsterdam who make 90's feminin slackery songs with violins. Members played in Dutch indie faves Hospital Bombers, Caesar, Scram C Baby, Solex and Johan. Supported Kelley Stoltz and Franky Rose.

Incendiary wrote about their first gig on showcase festival Eurosonic: ‘Frankly if Holland is looking for a brand of folksy pop music with a surefire sense of melody then NL need look no further. Linssen’s grabbed the flightiness of the Bombers and added a winning – timeless - twist to the sound as well as incorporating a brilliantly easy stage personality into the package. Top drawer stuff.’

'Susanne Linssen of Hospital Bomber’s has a new band; they’re called Beginners. What you should know is that they are really, really fucking good. Ok, they won’t be to everyone’s taste; it’s very feminine pop music in places. But regardless, Beginners make light, fresh pop songs that possess a fair bit of steel; mainly through a solid appreciation of dynamics and rhythm. There’s a buzziness about the sound, a really pleasing raspiness about the guitars, and the two fiddles work really well together, adroitly stitching up any loose ends and also looking to turn the music on its head.  They are used like a conductor’s bow, they add tone and direction. The fiddles also stop things from getting to maudlin or droney; and I’m pleased ‘adroit’ popped up in my mind because adroit is a good – the best - word to use to describe Beginners. Even their song about Ringo Starr (i.e. being about “who’s your favourite Beatle; and no it wasn’t as bad as it sounds, and yes I know, you’d think ‘oh fucking hell not a sentimental dreamy song about the bloody fabs’...) attempted to scale the perimeter fence of Camp Twee before falling back on the charming, not bollocks side. I mean it’s damned difficult to write breezy, uplifting pop songs with a sentimental side without sounding like a right nobber, but Susanne Linssen does, because there’s a peppiness and a determination with her that stops things sounding lame. Linssen is sharp and aware and professional enough to play a show and engage her audience; many don’t. Top marks.