We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Great Expectations

by Zwerm & Karen Willems

/
  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Great Expectations LP - artwork by Rudy Trouvé

    Includes unlimited streaming of Great Expectations via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days

      €20 EUR or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    CD Great Expectations

    Includes unlimited streaming of Great Expectations via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days

      €15 EUR or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      €7 EUR  or more

     

1.
crow in the dark the dreams they were convicted for telling only lies reality came after for claiming to be wise what you don’t see is what you get just never light a spark I’m a crow in the dark years and years and years afloat, imaginary sonic flea right on track on the off road, I panic very honestly find a wreck to soothe the brain, going interplanetary soggy minds out in the rain, looking for a man to bury and third there was fantasy for being immature and then a lost idea because it wasn’t really sure what you don’t see is what you get just never light a spark I’m a crow in the dark right in the marsh of sanity the plan the beauty of it all it’s all a matter of unwillingly gazing into the haze of … they all were wrong they all were false but it will be allright born ready made disaster but always out of sight
2.
Peel off the sentiment looking back on future we fearing what we hoped to be the general conditions of our sacred expectations are a soft but all inclusive lie right past the mighty arms of friendship brightly lit with all our credits it was a goal it was a role we’ve won we’re lost down in a hole shattering glass faithfully sheltering blossoming flee could you please peel off the sentiment could you let it stand alone could you say what’s in the end and then could you follow me home
3.
4.
It All Serves A Purpose yes it does yes it does all yes it does all serve a purpose it all does it certainly serves a purpose it does it really does all yes all yes all serve a purpose the purpose it serves is this it is this the purpose that it serves that all serve it all serves this purpose and the purpose that it serves is this it is all it serves all and all serve this purpose so we so we never so we never ever so we never ever stand here in vain stand here again in vain and again and again without a target without a goal without a purpose ‘cause
5.
Melusine 05:18
6.
on my way to aguno let me go to sleep let me go to sleep let me go to sleep let me go to sleep A tiny little planet, not very far from here, but far away from every day, and far away from fear Gonna build a rocketship, crying like a dove, flying like a mothership, on its way to love Unchained by reality, unshackled from below, untied from our enemies, on and on we go No farewell no goodbye ‘cause we will meet again so soon, we’ll pass two comets and have tea and biscuits on the moon On my way to aguno where everything is safe, just push the button on my blanket and try to behave
7.
My Umbrella 05:18
My umbrella hides my echo
8.
great expectations and if it’s really there when blood is not enough when something seems to be stuck but you can’t miss the point when actions only whisper and words take the fall when almost is a goal when never can be tempting and sometimes doesn’t reply then will we start the dance or wait for the one t(w)o, three and if it’s really there it’s somewhat disappointing it’s strangely immature it’s very inorganic it’s also insecure it echoes all your futures it chalks out ancient outlines it memorizes failure it used to suffice and if it’s really there should we mind being boring because we’re never free always someone’s shouting how we all should be it might be dressed as a monkey can we trust it to be real will we know how to feel and if it’s really there can we say it didn’t happen and ignore the sight can we drop our smiles and make it look like nothing to see what you hoped for to hear what you have sung and if it’s really there will you remember your friends do you care if they remember will you settle the score or return it to sender will you die before and if it’s really there we must be out of our minds to invent indecision it’s like to fall out of love to avoid a collision and if it’s really there will we act honestly or will we just keep on talking meaning no disrespect and if it’s really there should we turn on the light or do we fake simulation and if it’s really there what will we expect next and if it’s really there and if it’s really there and if it’s really there and if it’s really there
9.
Heavy Machinery Verse Retiring the hurt Restarting the flirt Checking out the crust Beneath it there is dust A soft kind of regret Is all you ever get Grazing on the wall Belly full, you fall Verse Reassign the blood Rewinding the flood Unbinding the will Tickle all that’s still Reorganize the free Not like it used to be Eliminate that shady feel Telling you: you aren’t real Chorus It’s why everyone smiles Everyone files All the unwanted lines In the dark side of the mind The right ones on the shore They are left overs no more And ready or not it’s time to show, it’s time to go All is not just misery We are heavy machinery Verse The sweaty little palms say please Just hold me and return my ease Try the fuck out of yourself Cry or chuckle choose or else A basket full of buttons here And if you push the wrong one: fear And if you push the right one: love Or maybe none of the above And what’s behind door number three You’ll find yesteryears slumber she Says go for one or go for two Wait for a bit and then, your cue Chorus All is not just misery, we are heavy machinery
10.
No questions, no lies (Charles Dickens) “You are in every line I have ever read.” “In a word, I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong.” “So, throughout life, our worst weaknesses and meannesses are usually committed for the sake of the people whom we most despise.” “I must be taken as I have been made. The success is not mine, the failure is not mine, but the two together make me.” “I am what you designed me to be. I am your blade. You cannot now complain if you also feel the hurt” “Take the pencil and write under my name, 'I forgive her.” “We changed again, and yet again, and it was now too late and too far to go back, and I went on. And the mists had all solemnly risen now, and the world lay spread before me.” “I looked at the stars, and considered how awful it would be for a man to turn his face up to them as he froze to death, and see no help or pity in all the glittering multitude.” “Ask no questions, and you'll be told no lies.”

about

The route that Zwerm has taken is often defined by the question “What if... ?” - like a dart thrown at a musical map, not quite blindly, but naive enough to lead to unexpected endings.
“What if we play Renaissance pieces written by John Dowland, but instead of playing lutes we play these tunes with a Telecaster – and then jam it through effect pedals and an amplifier?”
“What if we connect one hundred guitar pedals and just leave our guitars at home?” In 2020 our metaphorical dart landed on “What if we tried micro-tonality?”.

On the continents where Western musical theory is less stringently applied, micro-tonality is the rule, and has become the subject of many deep and thoughtfully written theories.
However for Zwerm, this phenomenon occurs in many, often surprisingly lighthearted forms. A dilapidated piano that has settled into a beautiful micro-tonal tuning of its own accord, enthusiastic choral
singing, a guitar whose three strings are tuned a quarter-tone higher, a saz (Turkish quarter-tone lute), a maddening guitar pedal, ...

“And... what if we work with a drummer?” Enter Karen Willems - dummer, extraordinaire, and ardent player in groups, projects and collaborations galore. One chance meeting and the deal was done. It was obvious before the start that Willems was the versatile and creative percussionist-in-a-toy-store necessary for this project. At the reins behind the scenes was producer Rudy Trouvé. Completing the team were Mark Dedecker (recording) and Joris Calluwaerts (mixing).

The results are in and it’s called ‘ Great Expectations’ – a title that, in several ways, fits perfectly with these strange 2021 times. ‘Great Expectations’ goes wide! Zwerm is at its best when it can run along the
borders between style and across traditions that otherwise would not necessarily intersect. The most straightforward rockers have a proggy tinge while the dreamy psychedelic songs lean more toward Richard Youngs. ‘Heavy Machinery’ sits neatly somewhere between Captain Beefheart and Richard Wagner, and ‘On My Way To Aguno’, set to an Iranian folk song chord progression, grew into a hyper personal lullaby. Zwerm used the saz and the sinter (Moroccan gnawa bass instrument) without falling into pastiche psychedelia, but you can still sense the orient.

link to album lyrics:
www.zwerm.be/lyrics-great-expectations.html

text: Stijn Buyst (shortened version)
translation: Thomas Moore

credits

released April 1, 2021

all music written & played by Zwerm (Johannes Westendorp, Bruno Nelissen, Kobe Van Cauwenberghe & Toon Callier) & Karen Willems and arranged by Zwerm, Karen Willems & Rudy Trouvé
all lyrics by Bruno Nelissen, except No Questions No Lies, lyrics by Charles Dickens
produced by Rudy Trouvé
recorded on tape by Mark Dedecker at Studio Finster, Antwerp, november 2020
mixed by Joris Caluwaerts
artwork by Rudy Trouvé
lay out by Thomas Noppe
mastered by Uwe Teichert

NEWS DISTRIBUTION

with the support of the Flemish Government and Sabam
in coproduction with STUK - Huis voor Dans, Beeld & Geluid and deSingel
thanks to Cohort & Werkplaats Walter
copyright Time Goes By 2021

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Zwerm Belgium

An exciting, sometimes alienating and always quirky musical discovery you rarely get to hear.
- Goddeau​

​Obvious contender for album of the year. - The Wire

In an nonacademic way they made a fresh translation of the spirit of the experimental avant-garde. - De Standaard ​​

Zwerm has played
Concerts in the UK, Europe, Iran, Mexico and the USA
... more

contact / help

Contact Zwerm

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Great Expectations, you may also like: