Dutch prog rocker Anneke Van Giersbergen has announced that she will release her latest solo album, The Darkest Skies Are The Brightest, through InsideOut Music on February 26. You can see the new artwork and tracklisting below.
The album title refers to the idea that, when facing personal challenges, we are forced to find answers to life's biggest questions, something that Giersbergen found herself facing prior to making the new album, her most personal to date.
In 2018, Anneke began working on new material for her prog metal band, VUUR, who had released their debut album In This Moment We Are Free - Cities in 2017, but behind the scenes there were issues.
”My belief in VUUR saw me spend all my savings on recording VUUR's debut album and taking the band on the road," Anneke explains. "After completing our first touring cycle, I realised that more VUUR would mean yet more, huge financial risks.”
To make matters worse, in 2018, her long-lasting marriage unexpectedly saw a storm approaching.
“I instantly knew I needed to write music about fixing my life," she adds. "This creative endeavour would be far too personal for a VUUR album. And it would also require solitude.”
The Darkest Skies Are The Brightest will be Van Giersbergen's 26th album of an illustrious career. The songs were written with just her acoustic guitar and basic recording gear in a small house near the woods, just outside her hometown of Eindhoven.
Producer Gijs Coolen then added strings, horns, and percussion. The resulting 11-track record has all the intimacy of Anneke serenading an audience of one, combined with surprising departures into swampier, foot-stomping grooves.
Anneke Van Geirsbergen: The Darkest Skies Are The Brightest
1. Agape
2. Hurricane
3. My Promise
4. I Saw A Car
5. The Soul Knows
6. The End
7. Keep It Simple
8. Lo And Behold
9. Losing You
10. Survive
11. Love You Like I Love You
