The Gentle Storm

The Gentle Storm BIO

Arjen Lucassen and vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen – who rose to fame with The Gathering – originally crossed paths in 1998 for Ayreon’s breakthrough third album, Into The Electric Castle. Ten years later they teamed up again for the seventh Ayreon album, 01011001, both having established themselves as world renowned heavy metal / rock artists in the decade between releases. Although their respective musical styles went in vastly different directions during that time, Arjen and Anneke retained a common ground that ultimately led to the creation of The Gentle Storm’s debut album, The Diary.

Given that both Anneke and Arjen are from Holland, they decided it would be interesting and authentic to base The Gentle Storm concept on something Dutch. The obvious choice for them was to focus on the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century. It was a unique time of remarkable progress in art, mathematics and science, and much of that progress was happening in Holland. “The art alone from that period is a rich source of inspiration,” says Arjen. “You can’t really look at a painting by Rembrandt or Vermeer and not feel inspired.”

The album concept is a tale of love, loss, and separation told through the story of two fictional seventeenth-century lovers. A Dutch sailor embarks on a two-year voyage, leaving his wife at home in Holland. The only way for the couple to communicate and keep their love alive during the long separation is through letters. These letters form the basis for the songs on the album.

THE DIARY – TRACKLIST

CD1: Gentle
01 Endless Sea (gentle version) 05.59
02 Heart of Amsterdam (gentle version) 06.36
03 The Greatest Love (gentle version) 04.08
04 Shores of India (gentle version) 06.40
05 Cape of Storms (gentle version) 05.28
06 The Moment (gentle version) 06.08
07 The Storm (gentle version) 05.56
08 Eyes of Michiel (gentle version) 03.56
09 Brightest Light (gentle version) 04.46
10 New Horizons (gentle version) 05.24
11 Epilogue: The Final Entry (gentle version) 02.02

CD2: Storm
01 Endless Sea (storm version) 05.53
02 Heart of Amsterdam (storm version) 06.37
03 The Greatest Love (storm version) 03.57
04 Shores of India (storm version) 06.24
05 Cape of Storms (storm version) 05.32
06 The Moment (storm version) 06.10
07 The Storm (storm version) 05.58
08 Eyes of Michiel (storm version) 04.00
09 Brightest Light (storm version) 04.54
10 New Horizons (storm version) 05.25
11 Epilogue: The Final Entry (storm version) 02.03

The Diary double album – close to a year in the making – is an epic production of Ayreon proportions featuring two contrasting interpretations of the same songs, all composed specifically for The Gentle Storm: acoustic / folk arrangements (CD1 – Gentle) and bombastic / heavy arrangements (CD2 – Storm). It also heralds Anneke’s return to the realms of heavy guitars and soaring vocals reminiscent of The Gathering’s breakthrough album, Mandylion. Of course, it wouldn’t be an Arjen Lucassen project without his trademark progressive elements, but he readily admits his main focus was on Anneke’s vocals.

“Anneke’s got an amazing instrument in her voice, and I wanted to showcase that by giving her strong melodies to sing,” says Arjen. “So this time I was hyper-focused on chords and melodies when composing the music. I even wrote and demoed all the songs using one simple orchestral string sound for everything before I started arranging the other instruments. That cheesy demo string sound made every song fight for its life, and only the strongest survived. Working this way has arguably led to The Diary being my most melodic album to date.”

The Diary breaks new ground for Arjen in particular in that it was the first time he worked with a large choir, real double bass, and a real French horn. In addition, he found people to play many different exotic acoustic instruments. “There are over 40, in fact,” he says. “Some of them so exotic that people probably haven’t heard of them!” It’s worth noting that, apart from an acoustic grand piano, there are no keyboards on The Diary. Arjen’s beloved Hammond organ and Minimoog remain under wraps, although it wasn’t an easy task leaving them there.

“Arjen is great to work with because he’s so focused and so dedicated,” Anneke says of her partner’s creative drive. “He works fast and knows exactly what he wants, but is also open to my input. Within a few weeks he was completely done with his composing, and from there we came up with this huge concept of having this double album with the metal and the folk parts. Both parts are equally important.”

Known for touring extensively year after year, Anneke is taking The Gentle Storm on the road backed by well known Dutch talents including former After Forever keyboardist / (Epica-)producer Joost van den Broek and Ayreon / Hail of Bullets / ex-Gorefest drummer Ed Warby. Arjen is not be part of the live line-up save for an exclusive appearance in Amsterdam at the official album release show on March 26th, 2015. He did, however, do a string of acoustic shows with Anneke through Europe in February 2015 out of respect for her and The Gentle Storm.

“Being somewhat of a recluse, I stopped playing live a long time ago for too many reasons to mention,” Arjen explains.”If anyone else had asked I would have turned them down flat, but to share the stage with Anneke is something I simply couldn’t refuse.”

With regards to the full band shows, Arjen admits “I’m really thrilled that finally one of my creations will be taken on the road. Especially this one with Anneke, who wrote all the lyrics. And it’s in trusty hands. Anneke is one of the best female singers I ever worked with, and we managed to get an amazing super band together, several of whom also played on the album. Win-win situation for everyone here, including the listeners!”

The Gentle Storm’s full band 2015 setlist consists of of songs from The Diary, as well as fan favourites from The Gathering, Ayreon and Devin Townsend Project records, all of which have featured Anneke prominently.

Bio text courtesy of Carl Begai / BraveWords updated / edited for post-release by The Master Cylinder

The Gentle Storm is a live band!

Arjen’s touring days are over, but he’s helped Anneke form a stellar band for live dates in support of the album. You can find out more at your favorite social media pitstop:

www.facebook.com/TheGentleStorm
www.twitter.com/gentlestormband
www.instagram.com/gentlestormband
https://www.facebook.com/annekevangiersbergenofficial
https://www.facebook.com/arjen.a.lucassen

For reference about releases, see The Gentle Storm entry on Discogs.com