New Release – Don’t Look Up, Don’t Look Down by Bertolf

Bertolf, full name Bertolf Lentink, is a Dutch singer-songwriter singing in English. His repertoire varies from 60s and 70s influenced pop to Americana and roots music. His early days as a singer-songwriter by the end of the noughties coincided with the job of multi-instrumentalist in Ilse DeLange’s (country pop) band. As a solo artist he scored a Dutch Top 10 hit with his debut single ‘Another Day‘ in 2009. The next year he won a Silver Harp, a renowned industry award for talented newcomers.

In the years that followed he recorded five solo albums as well as a band project under the flag of Color Reporters. His 2019 album ‘Big Shadows of Small Things‘ marked his Excelsior Recordings label debut. Having toured as a singer and guitarist with the band Her Majesty for various years, playing Beatles and CSN&Y-material, the album merged pop sensibility with the melancholy of the Americana wastelands.

In 2021 his sixth album ‘Happy In Hindsight’ boasts a return to upbeat pop songs with strong choruses. It was mainly recorded ‘corona-proof’ all by himself at home in his shed in the garden in his hometown Zwolle. It was finished in Amsterdam with the help of two long-time collaborators, drummer/backing vocalist Bauke Bakker and producer Frans Hagenaars.

The first single ‘Don’t Look Up, Don’t Look Down’ will be released this Friday. It is a pop song with Bluegrass-influences (we hear a banjo, a mandolin and a bluegrass guitar solo), while the choruses seem to move in more of a New Orleans kind of feel.

The lyrics were inspired by two of Bertolf’s all time heroes: Paul McCartney and Johan Cruijff. Both of these men have said similar things about how to treat other people.