Sand, the latest from Balthazar, is our pick of the albums reviewed on these pages during the past seven days – here’s your chance to revisit the review and check out the album via Spotify.
“A quick search of songs that in some way feature a reference to the Belgian city of Antwerp brings up more results than you’d maybe think; American downbeat rockers Pavement namecheck it in 1994’s Brink Of The Clouds, while downtempo eccentrics Lemon Jelly also drop the handle on 2002’s Ramblin’ Man.”
“It’s probably more authentic for Balthazar to join that fraternity given that they’re based in Ghent, a town roughly seventy clicks to the south west of what is, as most of us will probably already know, the place widely accepted as the diamond capital of the world.”
“On Leaving Antwerp, Balthazar are in unsurprisingly reflective state of mind, but the musical recipe is the same as it for the rest of Sand; an urbane mix of blue-eyed soul, stripped back funk and leisurely R&B all executed with a certain swing, in this case right down the to the jazzy, nonchalant sax solo.”
Click here for the review in full
