J. Bernardt – aka Jinte Deprez (Balthazar) – has today shared his new single “Mayday Call”. This is the second single to be released from upcoming studio album Contigo, out on May 17 via Play It Again Sam.
Pulsating with a funk-infused rhythm from the offset, “Mayday Call” instantly oozes with a sense of style and swag. Talking about the release, Deprez elaborates, “it’s a straightforward beautiful song lead by a thick orchestral unisono, all to back the vocals that squeal their way through a description of virtually a panic attack, calling out for help.
The song was written in one breath with a suitable code of blasting chaotic horns, there’s also a touch of the original acoustic demo in the outro”.
Contigo – Spanish for “with you” – is a dramatic, compelling and colorful body of work, infused with drama and brought to life by sumptuous melody, vocals and production flourishes from a master studio auteur as well as musical inventor and singer.
Contigo explores all the phases of a break-up: shock, sadness, anger, denial, hurt, acceptance… and nails ‘viciously romantic’ in the process. “I know a break-up record is a cliché,” says Deprez. “But I’m growing to love cliches! I wasn’t afraid to go all the way. Forgetting about the break-up by singing about it is like self-sabotage, but I’m having fun with it too”.
Listen to “Mayday Call” via all platforms HERE
A classically-trained violinist, Deprez has scored all the orchestrations for Contigo. He’s something of a generalist; singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, arranger, producer, engineer, programmer.
He started producing with the first Balthazar album in 2008 (he’s co-produced three of their five albums to date), and his debut album (released in 2016) is entirely self-made.
Whilst Running Days’ melange of sound was moulded by electronics, te new album Contigo is old-school band-based – namely a group of Deprez’s “super-talented,” friends that he guided through intense rehearsals and performances, “searching for that spark,” ably assisted by producer and mixer Tobie Speleman.
Deprez is best known as one half of the singer-songwriter duo of Balthazar, one of Belgium’s most beloved and respected alt.rock bands for over two decades.
As a group, they have performed at numerous prestigious events and venues such as All Points East, British Summer Time, Electric Ballroom, Village Underground, Scala, as well as selling over 600,000 albums worldwide.
Running Days has been streamed over 40 million times globally, and counting. J. Bernardt’s highly anticipated sophomore album Contigo is due for release on May 17 via Play It Again Sam.
