"These songs, this album, it's really about that feeling of unease. That sense of discomfort that one can have. You know that feeling?" As he takes another sip of his tea at a small Dutch café suitably called 'Weemoed', Paul van Hulten struggles to find the right words. "It's hard to explain. I am not a moody or a depressed kind of person, but sometimes this feeling just hits me. Sometimes it comes with a strange dream or a déjà vu. Or when I pass by the house where my grandfather used to live. I don't know what that feeling is, but I guess that's what this album is really about. I call it the twilight."
Paul van Hulten alias Man from the South is talking about his first album 'Koblenz'. An album with ten songs, written over the course of six months in 2009 and recorded with friends. It's also an album that was destined to never see the light of day. "Initially, I didn't write it to be released", he says. "I wrote it for myself. After I finished the record, I didn't know what to do with it and put it on a shelf." That's where it stayed until six months later, when a visiting friend noticed the 'lost' album and asked if he could listen to it. When he heard the tracks, he was floored. He urged more people to listened to the album and all of them convinced Man from the South that it would be sinful not to share this music.
'Koblenz' has since been released as a download album to great critical acclaim. Man From The South, who cites Bob Dylan, Springsteen, Pearl Jam and Townes van Zandt as some of his influences, recently performed 'Koblenz' live for the first time in an old little church. In this intimate setting, the beautifully melancholic and bittersweet songs of this singer-songwriter made a deep impression on anyone who witnessed the debut. Now, Man from the South is determined to take 'Koblenz' on the road. "I wrote these songs for myself, but now these songs are taking me somewhere. I just want to play."
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