Photo by Arielle Moens
Although THE HILLS MOVER is a very personal project, it is intricately linked – at least in a narrative way – with my work in THOT. Dead Notes tells the story of this character returning from the urban area of THOT’s The City That Disappears (2014) to the land of the water towers (The Fall of The Water Towers, 2012).
Until the end of this week (May 15th 2015): 50% of every purchase of The Hills Mover EP will go to the Red Cross of Belgium, to help them with their daily actions.
01. Relieved
This song was written in Prague in early December 2014. I was on the road for a short solo tour with Thot and realised how much I loved the whole experience of touring on my own. It also became crystal clear that I had to release new material as THE HILLS MOVER (a sleeping guise under which I had already produced a demo back in 2007) and start a new musical journey under this name.
02. Windwalkers
This song was inspired by the book “Windwalkers” by Alain Damasio (La Horde du Contrevent in french), which was a deep reading experience for me, right after coming back from my Czech solo tour in December 2014. Although the lyrics came to me after I had finished reading the book, they also refer to some of my friendships and to those life events that can sometimes set us apart. For a brighter future, hopefully.
03. Šiwa
Wikipédia says <Šiwa (or Živa, also Żiwia, Sieba or Razivia) was the Slavic goddess of life and fertility. She was worshipped throughout what is now Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Germany (and especially the Elbe (Labe) river valley), before Christianity expanded into the area. Her name means "living, being, existing">
Once again, my love for Czech and Slavic cultures has a direct influence on my actual writing. But this song was also written for my muse.
04. Speechless
After three songs, I think it’s time to take a walk. Quietly.
05. The Unbearable Lightness of Dancing.
October 2014, after being back from THOT’s European fall tour, I became obsessed with NICK CAVE’s song Higgs Boson Blues, and this particular line: ‘I’m driving my car down to Geneva’. At the same time, I was reading again Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Then, they both ‘met’ in a strange and endless dream that I made, which brought me to write this song as soon as I woke up.
06. Vélès
Once again, Vélès is a Slavic god, and one of the oldest ones. He his celebrated on the same date as my own birthday (6th of January). In this song, Vélès meets with the devil and decides to take a ride with him, on the same path than Chihiro at the end of Spirited Away from Miyazaki.