Sandra van Nieuwland - Breaking New Ground (2015)

Sandra van Nieuwland delivers honest and personal record
Sandra van Nieuwland experienced an impressive breakthrough in 2012 when she participated in The Voice of Holland. Although she did not end up winning the show, she was the biggest hype of the season when her covers of songs like ‘Keep Your Head Up’, ‘More’ and ‘Beggin’ all ended up in the highest regions of the Dutch charts. The album with her performances And More sold bucket loads and it is safe to say it was a difficult task to follow up this success. Sandra tried her luck on her own with the strong pop debut Banging On The Doors Of Love and the successful single ‘Hunter’. Now, two years later, she is back with her second full studio album Breaking New Ground.

With new seasons of the Voice of Holland following each year, it becomes harder for the previous promising talents to stay in the spotlight, but Van Nieuwland started the new era confidently with the release of the single ‘Truth’. The poppy and catchy track echoed the sound she produced on her previous record, but to be fair, the title Breaking New Ground is actually pretty appropriate as the sound of the rest of the record is quite new and fresh. She sounds more melancholic than ever and the tracks are all produced in an atmospheric and orchestral manner that perfectly suits her emotive and slightly jazzy vocal style.

The album opens with title track ‘Breaking New Ground’ that somehow feels like a statement, both musically and lyrically. “We’re breaking new ground, we follow the sound, we follow the sound of the beat of the drum. Come people come on, though we don’t know, where we’re gonna go”, she proclaims over a powerful piano driven pop track, probably talking about life in general and the creation of this record. On the beautiful ballad ‘Stop The Clocks’ with a dominant violin melody she sings: “Stop the clocks, you should be waking up before your light is dimming” and this is not the only melancholic or sentimental moment on the album. She takes her time to look back at her life, realizes how fast time goes by, asks herself important questions about life, searches for truth and honesty and finally comes clean. This makes clear how open Sandra dares to be.

One of the absolute highlights is the stunning ‘Indian Summer’, a slow burning ballad that perfectly translates the heatwave that is coming in the lyrics into a soundscape. For Sandra’s fans who would like some new tunes to dance to there is some good news as well. Apart from the catchy first single ‘Truth’ they get the single worthy swinging ‘Another Life’ that mixes jazzy elements with a reggae rhythm and instrumentation. ‘Wear My Shoes’ with its hand claps reminds us of the golden age of the banging bluesy rhythms. Breaking New Ground is a sonically diverse, beautifully orchestrated and above all bravely honest and personal album.