Robert van Heumen Composer Improvisor Laptop-Instrumentalist Sound-Designer
Software Developer
Songs of Love (and Decay) (2017)
is a song-cycle by Robert van Heumen for voice and electronics performed by
Evelien van den Broek with financial support from the
Performing Arts Fund NL. A series of personal texts about love in a decaying world. Inspired by Christian Fennesz' Endless Summer and J.M. Coetzee's Summertime. Below is the first song. 'First' in multiple meanings. The album is released on October 17, 2017. Listen to it on
Bandcamp.
Thanks to Evelien van den Broek for lending her special voice to this project. This album is dedicated to the very special persons who inspired these songs. You know who you are.
"I love the frequent sharp edge and originality of the music, and the totally futuristic, technological vibe throughout. Superb singer! I find your music here reminding me of many things, especially from the 1980s and early 2000s, but of course it is none of those things really, it is completely new and unpredictable!"
Michael Bonaventure, composer and organist
"Van Heumen made the most of his technical skillfulness to ensure that nothing sound predictable or stale, and he succeeded. The choice of vocalist Evelien Van Den Broek appears perfect for the scope. The lyrics are rendered with a cross of detached sadness and genuine anger. They talk of hope and disillusion; of processes of growth that had been imagined in a thoroughly different light.
Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes
Lyrics
1. Warp
When I met you I liked you
You went into warp
All or nothing
Was I ready was I done
All or nothing
Was I ready to make a decision
I needed more time
Over summer over summer
Sending messages in disguise
Turning things over and again
But you moved right on and
You went into warp
Demanded a decision, an answer, right here and right now
A decision forever and ever more
Love
2. Coma
Mental guidance, that is what I need
Help to focus, something to hold on to
Find meaning in life, then I thought it was you
When we met on the streets in New York
But you weren’t guiding me you were letting me be
So I looked elsewhere
Oprah was good for a while
Then HerbaLife came along
Finally Jezus did the trick
Jezus, that’s what you get for letting me be
myself
And love stopped dead in its track
When words were no longer valid
What were you thinking?
Were you thinking at all?
I was just brainwashed, totally
Do you even remember
You should have gotten me out
When there still was a chance
You tried, with help of the enemy
But did you really want out
Maybe you were just scared
Of a future with me
Different minds, different ways
Did you push me away
Maybe you were just scared
Of a future with me
Different minds, different ways
Did you push me away
Finally God sucked me in
Jezus, that’s what you get for giving me space
And love stopped dead in its track
When words were no longer valid
3. First Love
You were older, you were bolder
Than me
I was just looking for a shoulder
To cry
To regain myself, figure things out
Make sense of it all
7 years later I was older, I was bolder
Knew what to say and said it
In between
Were 7 beautiful years
Let's remember those
Despite hurt despite sorrow
You were just looking for a shoulder
It was comfort
Wasn't it love
4. I want you
You want me, all the way
I want you, I want you not
Or do I
Or am I
just playing
Or do I want
someone else, something else
What do you really want
is it real, is it all, is it heaven
Is it cheating, is it wrong, is it love
Or just sex
Am I dishonest, should I confess, make a choice
You are too eager, you want too much, you want it all
Or nothing
You left me
5. Walz for the restless
We danced
under similar circumstances
Both looking for love,
lost love, maybe
Then we took it online
Sweet words on a screen
Distant conversation
Don’t know what I feel
Expectations diverting
Chemistry lost
And then found, in disguise
At a terrible cost
Lust without sound
Sound without love
Did I ever love you
Or were you just my rebound
6. Requiem
Grant him eternal rest my Lord
and let endless light shine upon him.
Hear my prayer: to you shall all flesh come.
Grant him rest. Amen.
Merciful Lord, grant him rest, eternal rest.