Don't Be A Stranger Luwten

Following up her double single release "Control" and "Airport", "Don't Be A Stranger" has a slow, bluesy feel and airy vocals that hold a sense of fleeting emotions, the song draws on the listener's deepest memories. Dutch indie-pop act LUWTEN, the moniker of artist and singer-songwriter Tessa Douwstra, have been making waves across Europe with their subtle, soothing and melodic pop releases. "Don't Be A Stranger" is one of the many songs that will be unveiled in LUWTEN upcoming EP "Door".

By splicing artificial sounds with organic instrumentation, samples and field recordings, LUWTEN's brand of abstract pop explores one of life's bigger emotional beats: how to reconcile a yearning for both solitude and companionship. It's a quandary the world of today is suddenly coping with on a massive scale. Though the balance between spending time alone and with others is ever-changing, Douwstra finds solace in small, bemused observations she can clutch onto like cherished mementos.

LUWTEN has fast built a profile throughout Europe, with spins on various radio stations throughout the Netherlands, and now BBC Radio 1 in the UK. The indie-pop star has also seen support across streaming, including spots on New Music Friday in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany, as well as cracking the Netherlands Viral 50.

Don't Be A Stranger
This song was born from an experiment with my grandmother's old tape recorder. There was some awful yodel music on the cassette but when I rewound it and pressed play there was a two second recording of a male choir. I sampled that small part and that became the "ahay" you hear in the theme and chorus. The drums were build from other sounds the cassette recorder made. It turned out to be a strongly R&B influenced song about being on the move but not wanting the connections you make in these fleeting situations to be a fleeting thing. I think it sounds just like the setting of the song: some smokey bar in a country where it's still warm outside in the middle of the night.