Glossy Jesus

Maarten van den Hoonaard and Maarten Stuifbergen have been creating music together for ten years now, and have released four albums in the process. With their first effort, ‘And His Skimpy Angel Orchestra’ (HitOrgan Bontempi Records, 2006), they lay the foundations upon which their music rests: strong, enticing songs & compositions in the vein of their inspirators Neil Young, Tom Waits and the like. It contains therefore mostly singer/songwriter oriented material, and received very favorable reviews in the Dutch music press.

Their sophomore album, ‘Legust Klein’ (HitOrgan Bontempi Records, 2008), was the first Glossy Jesus album that was inspired by and recorded on the island Ameland, where Van den Hoonaard and Stuifbergen go a few weeks every year to work. It is, in al its aspects, a more mature and self-conscious album, with the emphasis still on the song as a monument. ‘Legust Klein’, too, received very favorable reviews.

For their third album, Glossy Jesus decided to dig a little deeper. Trying new styles and techniques, they came up with ‘The Pale Face Of Johnny McDowd’ (HitOrgan Bontempi Records, 2009), which covers just about everything from new wave to art rock to freak folk. It stands as their most interesting musical endeavor to date. Reviews stated that Glossy Jesus was now ready for a bigger audience. That step came with the release of ‘Traces’ (Coast To Coast Records, 2010). For this album, Glossy Jesus travelled to India with Dutch artist Theo Koster. He paints and works there, and his style is very similar to what Glossy Jesus does with music: applying layers and accents until the canvas is finished. ‘Traces’ was therefore inspired by India and its culture and people, while still featuring some bright and lucid pop songs for which Glossy Jesus is known. For this album, Glossy Jesus signed a deal with Coast To Coast Records, an independent Dutch record label.

After the release of ‘Traces’, Glossy Jesus was given the opportunity to build their own recording studio and rehearsal space in the city centre of Leiden, which took them about four months. Moeflon Sound opened its doors in April of 2011 and has been a thriving enterprise ever since. It provides a musical home and a creative breeding ground, not only to Glossy Jesus, but also to some ten other acts from the Leiden area.

New songwriting fever then began to emerge, but this time subtlety and simplicity would lose out to production and good old rock and roll. For this, Van den Hoonaard en Stuifbergen needed not just a band, but one that would be able to feel their intentions through shared passion and influences. They found this exactly this in Xavier Baudet, veteran of the Leiden music scene and bass player extraordinaire, and young and very able drummer Tiuri van der Drift.

After a few gigs supporting ‘Traces’, the foursome started recording for Glossy Jesus’ fifth installment at Moeflon Sound. Recording and producing the dense rock and roll they envisioned proved to be a harder and more meticulous task than recording their more singer/songwriter-oriented material.

It was not until the spring of 2012, therefore, that the release of ‘The Hunt’ as their new album will be called, was announced. It is now scheduled for late 2012 or early 2013, and will contain something totally different from the previous albums, as Glossy Jesus take to reinvent themselves yet again.