We recently featured Van Elst when he teamed up with Eldorado on the powerful and cathartic single, Où es-tu, so we were excited to hear his brand new release, Forevermore!
Setting the tone with crisp drums and a synthetic frequency, Van Elst opens Forevermore with a subversive mood, atmospheric vocals and the lyrics, “How I found you, in the dark, behind our bad dreams…”
Forevermore expands into a dark electronica soundscape, as the rising Dutch artist, who is based in London, takes us on a dreamy and melancholic journey with his latest opus.
Speaking on the track, Van Elst confesses, “The main inspiration for writing Forevermore came to me after an eye-opening experience I endured on a dark winter’s night in December 2021, undergoing a blue purple vision of an ethereal body lighting up like a shimmer in the darkness. Having this occurrence edged into my mind the next day while revisiting this episodic memory, the song flowed out of me in such a natural way. I quickly recorded the vocals and lyrics using my laptop with a SM58 microphone creating a very personal emotional sensation.”
We appreciate the parallel with the artist’s vision and the breathtaking single artwork. With regards to the song itself, Van Elst shares that it is about “an intense moment of hope and intimacy while questioning the infinite. Presenting the idea of forever wanting to hold on to that perfect instant moment with someone, in which we’d never want the end of time to arrive and become a truthful reality.”
He adds with depth, “While creating the song, I envisioned myself submerged into the same pool of blue and purple matter, entangled with someone I love “until the end of time”, holding on to the romantic and perhaps naïve idea that as long as we’d hold onto each other nothing could ever change or break us apart.”
We love the existential commentary that Van Elst shares with Forevermore, and his invitation for us to join him in his “blue memory“, as well as the profound backstory concerning his art, which amplifies our listening experience ten fold.
Van Elst is a journey to shine a light on the unspoken sides of mental health. He hopes his music will create more awareness and understanding of the struggles experienced by many, and says, “Listening to songs that relate to the situation I’m in helps me to process my feelings. With my music I hope to provide a feeling of hope and a similar healing experience for the listener.”
We have added Forevermore to our New Music Spotlight playlist, whilst we continue to stream Van Elst‘s wider discography including Home and Insomnia.