Our last goodbye. Elenne May, De Roode Bioscoop Sunday 12 March 2023

Photo: Wout de Natris

"The end of an era", it said somewhat ominously in the email inviting me to come to Elenne May's show in Amsterdam. This was not only the end of the theatre tour 'Velvet Beings' but also the end of Elenne May as a band. A band that I've seen live several times. It even performed twice in our living room. A band that never disappointed. A band that, for the life of me, I can't understand why it did not attract a bigger audience. Elenne May had a lot going for it.

The trip started with an email in the fall of 2015. We have a new EP out and would you care to listen to it? I did and became a fan. The EP was followed by two more that together became 'Veggie Patch In The Desert', a very varied and creative album with music that without doubt can be called original. The album made it to the number three position of my personal 2016 list, but kept growing: number 5 in my top 100 album overview of the 2010s. In the meantime I listened to the band's previous album, 'Misleadingly Soft', that turned up as number 39 in the same list.

After this it remained silent for many years. Just before the pandemic I received an invitation to come to one of two try out shows. I selected the second one and we all know why I never got to see the show. This did not happen until the summer of 2022, when the band did a try out in my living room. Up close and doing the whole performance moving around their instruments and cables without breaking anything. Dead silence, except for the band. An audience totally enraptured by the blend of spoken word, music, performance and electronics. Music and theatre mixed really well in 'Velvet Beings'. Unfortunately only five of the songs can be heard, the rest is lost to history as they have not been formally recorded.

Photo: Wout de Natris

The five songs that were recorded and released as singles, digitally, show tremendous progress and, again, creativity. The band explored its boundaries and found it could step over them with ease with no apparent new boundaries in sight, so I felt. Search and you will find reviews of all five on this blog and of the living room show.

The question I was asked beforehand, was about the difference between the two shows, at home and here. The differences as such were not so huge. One thing was very different: having a bigger venue allows for more dynamics. Drummer Eddie Jensen could really hit his snares and cymbals a few times, drawing out the rest of the band with him. Without going over safety boundaries for the ears, the band grew to great volumes and depth. The intimacy traded in for rock and roll. Not a term I'd use easily for Elenne May. The band did rock a few times alright.

Photo: Wout de Natris

All the great qualities of Elenne May came out beautifully in De Roode Bioscoop. The atmospheric sounds of guitar and keyboards by Roeland Scherff, in combination with the inventive drumming and beautiful bassplaying of Eveline Ypma create the kind of music fairytales are made of. They create the soft bed in which singer Elenne Klok can fill in the songs in such a way that magic is the word I suggest to use describing them. Elenne's voice tops it off, assisted by Eveline and Roeland.

No more. After this Sunday afternoon the band as such is no more, had run its course. All good things come to an end. Still I am a bit sad and shocked. Elenne will make more music under the name Elenne May, Roeland plays his guitar in church, Eveline is creating film scores and Eddie plays in other bands and is building his new home in the east of the country. And I? I'm left behind with the memory of great shows and with beautiful music that I can play for the rest of my life; and will.

Like Roeland said to me, we were on a trip together. From the sideline I followed Elenne May with great pleasure and am glad to say I got to know them as friends in music. With big hugs we said our goodbyes. Be well and thank you for the beautiful music!

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Elenne May's music here:

https://elennemay.bandcamp.com/