VAN ELST ft Eldorado – Où Es-tu (2022)
Throughout our lives, we face times when we feel adrift without an anchor, floating directionless and lost. This is something that VAN ELST has felt and the journey he faced has been captured in his single ‘Où Es-tu’. The soothing flows that characterise his music sweep through the single and combine with Eldorado’s vocals and the intricate guitar lines provided by Jasper Bullynck.
Through the single, VAN ELST looks to shine a light on the hidden sides of mental health, while helping listeners rebuild their mental defences. While drawing on his own experiences, he offers something wonderfully easy to relate to, which is brought to stunning sonic life by the alluring vocals of Eldorado. After touring with his previous band supporting Peter Murphy, VAN ELST has been honing his writing skills to create more awareness and understanding of the struggles that many face on a daily basis.
The light tones that wash and lap through the opening of ‘Où Es-tu’ are like a glittering ocean that brings its sparkling light to our lives. There is a really expansive feeling to the melody that reaches out toward an endless horizon, creating the feeling of being adrift in a never-ending sea. The higher layers of the music reach out while the deep beat turns into a light shuffle, creating the undulation of the waves of the ocean. It is a wonderfully open melody that seems to be everywhere at once. While expansive, there is also a feeling of the walls of sound closing in. This contrast of feeling is a fantastic sonic representation of the different sides of mental health. As the melody reaches through the single, there is a movement that has you relaxing into the sound as parts soothe the rough edges of your soul.
As the melody sets you adrift on the sea of sound, the vocals enter with a hazy hum that is like a bird soaring against a cloudless sky. VAN ELST’s vocals bring a dreamy vibe to the single as he captures the feeling of being lost emotionally. The dreaminess drops for a darker movement that highlights the darker side of mental health. There is a wonderful interplay within his performance, contrasting darkness with airy dreaminess. The lyrics are an addictive flow of consciousness and thoughts that bring a wash of emotion. Eldorado’s alluring vocals slowly make their way through the upper levels of the performance, before the French lyrics bring their own dreaminess. The movement from English to French is stunning in its smoothness that brings a glimmer of light which helps you build your strength.
Featuring Eldorado and Jasper Bullynck, ‘Où Es-tu’ by VAN ELST sets you adrift on a sea of melancholic loneliness, only to sparkle with a glimmer of strength that helps you rebuild. The melody is soft and expansive as it reaches out in all directions, leaving you unsure of which way is forward. VAN ELST’s vocals are dreamy as they bring a thread of thoughts to life, before Eldorado’s alluring French vocals start to build your strength.
Find out more about VAN ELST on his Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
