Groningen’s Annemarieke Coenders began her musical career over thirty years ago as one half of the vocal duo Ygdrassil. With this project, she performed for fifteen years both in the Netherlands and abroad and released five albums. She later developed her solo career as a singer-songwriter. Together with drummer and soundscape artist Wim Sebo, she released two albums of original material: Go (2010) and Making Heaps Digging Holes (2012). She has also been a long-time member of the Groningen singer-songwriter collective The Songclub.

As a songwriter, she has been quite prolific, but it has taken some time before she returned to the studio with new material. In 2026, after a long hiatus, her album Open Ogen will be released. It is a folky indie-pop record featuring 11 Dutch-language songs. Covering themes such as doubt, death, love, vacationing close to home, aging, and Mathieu van der Poel, the album explores a wide range of topics, but still manages to sound cohesive.

Contributions from drummer Lielian Tan (VeNCe, Flageolettes), trombonist Obed Brinkman (O-bat, Jammah Tammah), and guitarist/vocalist Fred Goverde (TAXITAXI and also a singer-songwriter) provide a rich complement to Coenders’ rhythmic guitar work in unusual tunings and her warm, storytelling voice. The recordings took place at Harmen Ridderbos’ It’s a Bear Studio (Town of Saints, Weird Youth), who also appears on the album playing harmonium and bass.

Annemarieke Coenders usually performs solo, but during the Open Ogen release show at VERA, all four guest musicians will join her on stage. At the end of 2025, listeners can already get a taste of the album with the music video for the track Kraaienpoten.

Annemarieke Coenders | Facebook