Dutch artist Inge van Calkar recently released her infectious new single River on via Deer and Forest Records.

A song about choosing to move on and not stand still in life, River is propelled by pulsating beats and van Calkar’s smooth, sultry vocals with shades of the likes of St Vincent. As sparkling hooks flow, it’s an instantly catchy slice of uplifting alt-pop.

RESET, the forthcoming album, will be released on September 29th (2018).

In this interview spotlight, I chat with Inge van Calkar about her upcoming project as well as motivations, challenges and more.

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

Let’s dive a little deeper into You, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre(s) or style(s)?

My upcoming album -RESET- could be described as Alt-Pop (alternative Pop), a genre I always felt connected to. I listened a lot to bands like radiohead, PJ Harvey, Tori Amos or Muse. But when I played or recorded myself it used to be a different style – more singer/songwriter-like with instruments like acoustic guitar and double bass.

While there is certainly nothing wrong with this kind of music, over the years it felt like it suited me less and less. As my confidence on stage grew, I wanted to do a more powerful show, with more energy flowing from the stage. So I bought a beautiful electric guitar, a white Fender Jazzmaster and started writing different songs. This new album sounds more like the music I always listened too. Doing these songs live feels much more honest and is at the same time just a lot more fun.

What led you into this journey with music? And further, what drives you to push it out to the public?

I’ve been making music since I got a guitar at the age of 13. I never was into playing covers. I always made up something new (I still do) and as soon as I got home from school I wanted to make music. Basically, this hasn’t changed until today. I just love making music.
While I always loved to play my music for an audience, what we do now, to plan a show and think about how to keep it interesting for the audience is really a different thing. Instead of playing one song and then ask people ‘what do you think?’ we moved on to taking people on a journey with us, for the whole duration of the evening or at least our show. If this succeeds – if you have this magic moment – it just feels great.

Who or what influences your creativity? Have your tastes in music changed over time?

My older sister was (and is) a big influence for me. She’s very creative, she also makes songs, but unlike me, she hates performing live. She doesn’t get energy out of it. But through her I learned a lot of music. My taste in music changes all the time. I listen to something over and over again for months until I’m sick of it and then I find something else. In general I used to listen to folky music more, now it’s more electronic pop music.

Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new project? Creatively or otherwise?

This album has a totally different sound and style as my previous album. I wanted to shake off the singer/songwriter feel and establish a new sound.

The sound is big, kind of cool I think, and it’s really alternative pop music now.

Because of the shift in style and feel I named the album RESET.

What was the last song you listened to?

I don’t know the last song I listened to, but the song “while you wait for the other” from Grizzly bear is playing in my head all the time. I saw them at “Lowlands” last week, a great music festival in the Netherlands.

Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?

I actually love music streaming. Everything is there, you don’t have to buy anything in a store or wait till it gets delivered.

How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?

Being a musician I love soundcloud, because it’s so easy to share my music. As for the big streaming services, I have a subscription to Spotify and Apple music.

I like them both, but I discovered more music that I really like on Apple music. Somehow their music suggestions are really good.

Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what is the biggest challenge you face when trying to connect with or find new fans?

I think it’s to keep them interested. There’s so much music, so you have to keep on releasing new music. Otherwise people will forget you.

Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more music?

• https://www.facebook.com/inge.vancalkar/
• https://www.instagram.com/ingevancalkar/
• https://soundcloud.com/ingevancalkar

Anything else you’d like to add before signing off?

Nope!