Symon - ‘One And One Makes Three’ You have to admit: add up one and one and the right answer doesn’t seem to be three, right? But when you leave those cold hard facts out of the equation and apply this sum to that broad spectrum of human emotions, the answer that first pops into your mind isn’t necessarily correct. The answer could very well be three, according to Simon Binkenborn, the 28 year old singer-songwriter whose band Symon is about to release its excellent debut album in spring 2010. “If you look at a relationship between two people and take their passion, their arguments and their other emotions into account, the answer to that mathematical question is always more than just two.” His previous single ‘Superstitious’ (2008) showed the shape of things to come. The song became a hit on national radio and leading Dutch magazine REVU called Simon ‘Talent for 2009’. On his debut album the German-born, Amsterdam-based Binkenborn shows himself as a singer who can write about every aspect of life. The result is an incredibly varied record [album?]. There’s some extraordinarily catchy indie rock to be heard, which could set a dance floor on fire, but Simon also leaves a lot of room for ballads that are extremely carefully crafted and some more than just decent pop-rock tunes. The variation in musical styles and lyrics can be traced back to Binkenborn’s personal life. “Writing allows me to take a good look at myself, my feelings and my emotions. It enables me to learn and grow. I’m trying to be the best person I can be, but just like everybody else, I have a dark side that rears its ugly head every now and then. I think that really shows on this album.” The singer likes to experiment with different moods and loves to contradict himself in his music and lyrics. A good example is the single ‘Superstitious’, which was originally a pretty melancholy tune, but with a new arrangement on this album, it becomes an uptempo, catchy track. “With the new arrangement, the song sounds a lot lighter”, Binkenborn admits. “Lyrically, however, it remains unchanged; there’s still some pretty heavy content in there. But by changing the pace and the dynamics of the music, I’ve put the song in a whole new perspective.” The album was recorded in Sweden’s Varispeed studio (The Hives) with the help of producer Niels Zuiderhoek (Relax, Seven). Binkenborn emphasizes the importance of his band consisting of Chris Kikic (Keith Caputo), Ben Bakker and Len van der Laak. “It was a real group-effort; my band mates helped out in the song writing department, especially on those faster indie tracks like ‘Cut Me Loose’ and ‘Can’t take It’.” Sweden was also the place where a definitive band name was chosen. “I’m not particularly fond of these aliases that do not say a thing about me or my band. My lyrics and music are really close to my heart and way too much about myself to just have a completely irrelevant name tacked onto it. So, when we were in Sweden recording the album, we were contemplating a fitting band name. Each night after recording we were outside watching the stars. There was this incredibly symmetric star sign in the shape of the letter Y, so we decided to use that and combine it with my name.” Symon was the result. The band has built up its momentum these past few months, playing lots of shows in Dutch clubs and opening up for artists like Colbie Caillat, Justin Nozuka, Ronan Keating and Wouter Hamel. Right now, Symon is playing gigs in Holland together with other up-and-comers Miss Montreal and Bertolf on the Serious Talent Tour organized by 3FM, Holland’s most popular public radio station. The time is right for Symon to capitalize on that momentum. With an excellent debut ‘One And One Makes Three’, a catchy single ‘Cut Me Loose’ and lots of live shows on the horizon, 2010 is set to become the breakthrough year for Symon.
