This year Anton Walgrave not only celebrates his 38th birthday but also his 30th anniversary as a song writer. The radio hit ‘Lost Soul’ has been one of the highlights thus far. The song has especially become known as the theme song in the last episode of the TV series De Parelvissers, realised by Woestijnvis, and can be found on his third album ‘Shine’. Also in the 11 powerful tracks on ‘As You Are’, Anton’s latest CD, all musical ingredients are present to fantasize a memorable drama series to it.
At the age of 9, Anton distributed his first demo with his own songs on the then available cassettes. He primarily wrote about arguments, the oil crisis, and eternal love. The oil crisis, although a topical subject, is no longer a theme on ‘As You Are’ but love and the eternal search for it all the more.
For his new CD, Anton called in a new team lead by Mario Goossens (Triggerfinger).
He had met him at ‘En wat dan?’ – a series of theatre shows in which Ruben Block and
Monsieur Paul (both Triggerfinger), David Poltrock, Klaas Delrue (Yevgueni), and
Roos van Acker also performed.
“It was a great project on the theme of saying goodbye, but not only in a sad way. I talked a lot with Mario at that time and he seemed the right person for the production of my latest CD. Mario wanted to listen to all my previous demos. As such I rediscovered songs that I had kind of forgotten myself. He pushed me back down, made me dig, made me work. Exactly what I needed. As such ‘Hannah’, which was started 13 years ago in a completely different context, was picked up again and ‘Love Is Blindness’, based on an idea that I’ve had for a long time but that had stranded with 1 strophe only, surfaced.
When the songs were chosen, Anton and Mario withdrew in the studio where the technique was taken care of by John Morand (Sparklehorse, Joan Osborne, Neeka, Mint).
Guitar playing was canned by Ruben Block, the bassist was Jelle van den Bergh (a friend) and Mario Goossens (himself) sat behind the drums. For the rest, like the special noises and special arrangements, Anton was responsible. Peter Obbels, who worked with the Belgian top producer Wouter Van Belle for a long time, was hired for the mix. Mario and Peter had worked together for Triggerfinger’s CD ‘Soon’
Peter worked meticulously (his trademark) from his studio in a cosy old Ardennes chalet. The long process resulted in a very distinctive sound: on the one hand very accessible and passionate, on the other hand deeper, bringing to the fore elements seldomly heard in the work of singer-song writers - elements that on first hearing don’t seem to belong, even sound dirty, but nevertheless contribute to the distinctive character of As You Are’.
Anton’s lyrics in ‘As You Are’ are very special as of old. Rounding of these lyrics, with the help of ‘text doctor’ Martin King, was often a long process of puzzling, doubting, pondering and rearranging. About the lyrics Anton says the following:
“Again some songs are about saying goodbye, death. That, apparently, is something that keeps me busy. Just as the phenomenon of time. It’s hard for me not to question things. I like to undermine things. I wonder if things are really the way we think they are. People like to echo each other. There’s often no authenticity. ’Ice’ for instance, is about the superficiality in conversations. That may all seem a bit gloomy but those who know me, know that I’m a positive person. I also like things with a double meaning. I consciously put that in my texts. I want to show the whole picture. ‘As You Are’ is about you and me. It’s about everything. We all do it, everybody has their Gods, we’re all camp followers. Everybody has their own structure and systems that are all very human. And that’s exactly why there are plenty of reasons to question that. People like to be part of a group and to shout something in unity. I question that although it can never be done better than Monty Python once did in ‘The Meaning Of Life’. There, a crowd shouts with one voice: ‘We are all
individuals’. A man stands up and says :’I’m not !’ ‘Magnificent fragment.”