EPK-SoYouThink

“Should I apply a filter,
turn my camera just off kilter
and brush away the years and days?“

About the artist

Maaike was born in Schiedam, a Dutch city in the shadow of Rotterdam’s oil refineries. Feeling inspired after a songwriting retreat in Scotland, she moved to the UK to study music. She recorded her debut album, Born Before the Wind, in Bath Spa, and now lives in Bristol.

Maaike writes story-telling songs about travels, remarkable people, and big issues. Her previous single, ‘Call of the Last Wildcat,’ is a charity single for the Scottish Wildcat, the UK’s most endangered animal.

Her new recordings are musically inspired by classic jazz. As a teenager, Maaike took guitar lessons from an elderly gentleman, who had never heard of contemporary artists like Oasis or Sheryl Crow. Instead, he taught her to play jazz standards from the Real Book.

‘The colourful chords and memorable melodies have always stayed with me’, Maaike says. ‘And that’s how I came to listen to phenomenal performers like Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. They were real, no pitch-correction or other tricks. That’s what I’m going for as well.’

Maaike’s music has been played on local and national radio. She’s also won the songwriting competitions of Glastonbury FM and University of the West of England.

“Delicate vocal, poised production, gorgeous chord changes”
– Tom Robinson, BBC Radio 6 Music

“A voice smoother than Dutch chocolate”
– Music Eye UK

“Maaike’s voice is butterflies-inducing.”
– Neil March, Trust the Doc

Behind the track

‘So You Think’ is a laid-back jazz track featuring some serious piano chops, swinging upright bass, and a chihuahua. It’s the first single from Maaike’s upcoming jazz-inspired EP, expected in June 2022.

The song is Maaike’s response to society’s expectations of women. To look young and beautiful. To leave the technical stuff to the guys. As you may have guessed, she doesn’t think so!

Written together with the Glaswegian artist Becci Wallace, ‘So You Think’ was mixed and produced by Maaike herself. Emily Magpie mastered it. It has Kerry Politzer (USA) on piano, and Madalena Graça (DE) on double bass.