BIOGRAPHY:

What is the sound you hear waking up in the morning? Hope it’s not your clock. What is the sound of rain, rolling on the tiles? Just as tempting as a percolating coffee-machine. Marten de Paepe plays warm, melancholic, acoustic whisper songs. Music about everyday life when time stands still for a moment. When memories come back to life and where dreams didn’t bite the dust. Marten de Paepe is a Dutch singer-songwriter. Guitar, vocals, cello, piano and xylophone create a tranquil surrounding in hastened days. 

In June 2007, Marten won the Dutch national singer-songwriter competition Nootuitgang. 3VOOR12 wrote about this event: “His fluent guitar playing accompanied by his characteristic voice impressed the jury. The members of the jury unanimous agreed on the election of Marten de Paepe, who made them think of artists such as Tim Buckley and Nick Drake. He is able to make a solid impression. Like the audience the jury was looking forward to more songs of Marten.” 

Since the first day Marten plucked the strings of his guitar sitting on his bed, he recorded many tapes full of his songs. At first he played them to other people only occasionally. He would try to drown out a noisy audience by playing as loud as possible. After several performances, Marten found out he could persuade people to listen to his music when he played softer. When there’s more space left open in music, people have got more to fill in for themselves. Many gigs en positive critics followed in the course of 2006 and 2007. 

Being a tranquil singer-songwriter, Marten de Paepe listens to such artists as Dolorean, Great Lake Swimmers and Damien Jurado. Hearing them, he found out how to color a song with various instruments. Live and on record, Marten is being accompanied by Hanneke Janssen and Chantal van der Leest. Cello, harmonium, backing vocals and xylophone lend surprising elements to the music. The songs as played by Marten on himself are always central in his music.