Kim Janssen

Kim Janssen

Kim Janssen is a Dutch singer-songwriter from the Netherlands. He is also a member of the acoustic pop group The Black Atlantic and releases music under his own name.

Solo releases

His debut solo album, The Truth Is, I Am Always Responsible, is released on Volkoren Records in 2009. His second album, Ancient Crime, is released in 2012, followed by The Lonely Mountains on Snowstar Records.

Background and recording

Janssen grows up moving with his family across various cities in Asia, including places below the Himalayas and Bangkok. These early experiences shape the memories and stories that inform his writing, along with a sense of nostalgia for the past. After returning to the Netherlands, he records songs at home using a borrowed four-track recorder and microphone, then compiles them onto a CD.

The CD reaches a manager in New York, Lance Labreche, which leads Janssen to travel to New York City. He later spends ten days in an abandoned train station in the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts, where producer Robby Baier has set up a studio with a range of instruments. There he records vocals, guitar parts and additional sounds including acoustic piano, sleigh bells, Fender Rhodes, howler, thunder and toy piano.

Collaborations

During these sessions, Baier brings in musicians to add drums, upright bass, pedal steel guitar and trumpet. Janssen also works with Marla Hansen, who sings and plays viola on a session in Brooklyn between her touring commitments with My Brightest Diamond and The National.