Amatorski is a Belgian
post-rock band consisting of Inne Eysermans, Sebastiaan Van den Branden and Christophe Claeys.
History
Amatorski was formed in 2008. The group became famous after reaching the final at the
Humo's Rock Rally
Humo's Rock Rally is a Belgian contest for rock bands, organized every second year since 1978. It is organized by the Belgian magazine HUMO.
Every band that has not yet released an official recording, may enter the Rock Rally, by submitting a d ...
in 2010. The band name comes from the
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
word for ''amateurish'', accordingly the group records its music in
low fidelity. Apart from that their music is also characterized by a
melancholic
Melancholia or melancholy (from el, µέλαινα χολή ',Burton, Bk. I, p. 147 meaning black bile) is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly d ...
, blurry style in which the texts are often very narrative. This is expressed in their record ''Come home'' for which singer Inne Eysermans found inspiration by reading the love letters from her grandmother that were written during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. This song gained fame since it was used in Belgium during publicity spots for water brand
Spa Reine.
In 2011 they travelled to London, England to work with producer
Darren Allison
Darren Allison (born May 1968, Ashington, Northumberland, England) is an English record producer, musician, and audio engineer, best known for his production work with artists such as Spiritualized,Kempster, Chris "Studio secrets of the stars ...
(
Spiritualized
Spiritualized (stylised as Spiritualized®) are an English rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire, by Jason Pierce (often known as J. Spaceman), formerly of Spacemen 3. After several line up-changes, in 1999, the band centered on Pi ...
,
The Divine Comedy
The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature an ...
,
Belle & Sebastian) on their debut album ''
TBC''. Upon its release, ''
TBC'' garnered much critical acclaim, and ascended to number 5 in the Belgian album chart. Later that year, the album received nominations in several categories, at the Belgian
Music Industry Awards
The MIA's, in full Music Industry Awards, are Flemish music prizes that are awarded by the VRT in collaboration with Music Centre Flanders. The prizes replace the ZAMU Awards, last awarded in 2006.
The abbreviation MIA is a wink to ''Mia'', a ...
.
Their style was often compared to that of
Portishead and
Sigur Ros.
Entitled ''from clay to figures'', Amatorski's second album is coming out in April 2014, on
Crammed Discs
Crammed Discs is an independent record label whose output blends world music, rock, pop, and electronica. Based in Brussels, Belgium, Crammed was founded in 1980 by Marc Hollander of Aksak Maboul and has since released around 375 albums and 275 ...
(who have also given ''TBC'' an international release in 2013).
In 2014,
Dominik Scherrer
Dominik Scherrer is a Swiss-British composer born in 1967 in Zurich, Switzerland, who has written prolifically for film, theatre and television.
Career
Scherrer has composed the music score for both seasons of the British television series '' ...
composed a new orchestral version of their song "Come Home", which is used as the opening theme of acclaimed
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
and
Starz drama
The Missing.
In December 2020, a cover of the band's song "Come Home" was featured in
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
's annual Christmas commercial, titled "Mailbox," in partnership with the
USO
The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...
.
Music Industry Awards
In 2010 they were nominated for three Belgian
MIAs MIAS may refer to:
* Maryknoll Institute of African Studies, educational institute, see Maryknoll
* MIAs, plural of Missing in Action
* Moscow International Automobile Salon, auto show in Russia
* Montreal International Auto Show
The Montreal Int ...
. However, they did not win any of the prizes:
* Hit of the year (''Come Home'')
* Best artwork (''
Same Stars We Shared'' -artwork done by Femke Vanbelle)
* Best breakthrough
Band members
* Inne Eysermans (singing, piano, guitar,
accordion)
* Sebastiaan Van den Branden (singing, guitar)
* Christophe Claeys drums, percussion
Former members
* Hilke Ros (
contrabass, synthbass)
* Laurens Van Bouwelen (drums,
vibraphone
The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist ...
)
Discography
Amatorski in the Ultratop 50, ultratop.be
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Albums
Singles
References
External links
Official websiteInterview with Amatorski at Bedroomdisco
Belgian post-rock groups
{{Belgium-band-stub