Gert Keunen

Gert Keunen is known to some as the man who talks very inspiringly about music as a music history teacher at the Ghent Conservatory and the RITCS in Brussels, to others as the man who even takes a seasoned teetotaler along in his story about how he started (and continues to do so) with his artisanal brewery ("Keun"), but to many as a musician who has already fought many "battles", including as Briskey (Big Band). Since 2020, Gert Keunen has been releasing music under his own name and has worked on his Nordic Noir trilogy, in which his love for the far north is the source of inspiration. 'Heis' was the first in line. That word means 'lift' in Norwegian and symbolizes the trip to Norway. 'Hemma' ('home'), which was released in 2022 became, expressed the feeling of wanting to be at home there, while ‘Hode’ (‘head’) indicates that this is mainly a nostalgic longing in his head, a place where he can go to in his thoughts at all times. As a refuge and a warm blanket. All the music was written in Norway, on a small keyboard. In his home studio he further developed the songs and they got their final elaborated version. Each song bears the title of the place where it was written, and contains field recordings of that place. More than ever, Hode is an interaction between Norway and himself. Musically, the record sounds darker than its predecessors, with more guitars and electronics. But it is still instrumental ‘postcinematic music’, spiced with neoclassical and postrock. Music for lovers of Olafur Arnalds and Mogwai. There are no samples (in the sense of pre-recorded loops) on this record. All the music is either played on guitar, bass, keyboard and a bit of flute, or played with virtual instruments. Once again, everything was composed, recorded, mixed and mastered by himself. This time also in Dolby Atmos! This soundtrack-like music lends itself perfectly to immersive audio. See “Hode" as an entrance ticket to a new way of listening to music