On 5 December 2025, Antarctica Records releases the debut album D O W L N D R A K E by the Leuven-based K L A N G c o ll e c t i v e, the hybrid ensemble around soprano Annelies Van Gramberen and singer-songwriter Sim Van Thienen. In their first joint project, they unite two musical kindred spirits: the lutenist John Dowland (1563–1626) and British troubadour Nick Drake (1948–1974). With acoustic instruments, a loop station and subtle electronics, they create a timeless space where Renaissance sound and seventies folk merge into a dreamy universe.
The album will be presented on Thursday 13 November during a concert at TRAUM (the former Café d'Anvers). Within the Classical Encounters series, the iconic club transforms into an atmospheric meeting place for adventurous classical music. An ideal setting for this auditory bridge between four centuries of song.
Musical kinship
The melancholy and vulnerability in the music of Dowland and Drake have inspired Annelies and Sim for years. 'We dreamed for a long time about bringing their worlds together. During the first rehearsals, that fusion proved self-evident', says Sim Van Thienen. The songs were reduced to their essence and reinvented with voice, guitar and electronic loops. This creates a pure, compelling sound language in which old and new, classical and pop complement each other.
Timeless and connecting
Following earlier performances at, among others, MAfestival Brugge, D O W L N D R A K E has garnered rave reviews. Former artistic director Tomas Bisschop praised "the beauty with which the duo compels the listener to silence", while Guy Coolen (O. Rotterdam) praises the project for its "intergenerational power and poetic approach".
After an extensive tour through festivals and cultural centres, the music took its final form on this album. The first single Come Again is released on 29 October. The second, In Darkness // Clothes of Sand, follows on 12 November. The complete album will be available in shops and online from 5 December.
Release calendar
- 29.10.2025 – single Come Again
- 12.11.2025 – single In Darkness // Clothes of Sand
- 13.11.2025 – live release at TRAUM, Antwerpen
- 29.11.2025 – GC De Wildeman, Herent
- 05.12.2025 – release of the complete album D O W L N D R A K E
The artists
Annelies Van Gramberen With her clear, sensuous tone and great stylistic sense, this Leuven soprano moves as effortlessly through Verdi as through contemporary creations. Since her studies at Luca School of Arts, she has built an international career, with collaborations in opera, baroque and dance productions such as En Atendant by Rosas.
Sim Van Thienen Guitarist, singer and composer, lecturer at Luca School of Arts, and frontman of Head Full of Flames. His versatile guitar playing and warm voice form the core of his compositional universe, in which classical structure, electronic textures and poetic melancholy become one.