Van Hechter is one of those artists that you don’t quite know how to describe. There is something fabulous and hypnotic that just draws you into his music, so that even when it’s over, your head is still playing, singing along to the words lingering in your head. His songs, much like the man himself, are attractive, particularly through the fact that they stand out from other stuff out there.
Because Montreal-native Van Hechter isn’t just a singer, he’s a performer. You can feel his passion in every beat, hear his unique sense of humor in each lyric. Van Hechter himself is quick to point out that his music is about self-mockery, that he uses his songs to express his innermost, darkest thoughts and ideas, while at the same time taking himself with a grain of salt, something not many artists are capable of doing.
He says he’d declare himself a happy man if he manages to make at least one listener relate to his music and smile, which he definitely has done.
His latest song, “Love the Disco”, premiered on Spotify late last month and is truly incredible to listen to. While some may call it a party song, it can be listened to anywhere, at any time during the day, regardless of your mood. It’s an excellent track to listen to if you’re stuck in your head, trapped in thoughts and worries, because through its’ repeating nature, it has this mesmerizing quality that draws you out and forces you to focus on the present moment. Ever since that odd laughter at the beginning, it captivates your attention, makes you wonder ‘what is this’, telling you from the get-go that you’re about to listen to a unique song.
But “Love the Disco”, like most of Van Hechter’s songs, goes beyond the laughter and pushes into deeper issues. From the opening lyrics, speaking about a planet that’s “as dirty as we made it”, Van Hechter shows the song is more than something you dance to, bringing into focus huge issues such as pollution and climate change.
However, the artist doesn’t dwell long on such worries, encouraging the listener – “We can dance”, he tells us, and we find ourselves dancing, while he goes on about how we’re killing this beautiful planet of ours.
“The Earth is getting drier, wasting water by the bucket,” Van Hechter sings, while we’re still dancing… and so the song goes on. It’s a very novel approach, in my opinion, because while the dancing keeps you physically engaged and feeling good, the song is also addressing some very serious issues and perhaps making you listen, through the very fact it’s such a likable song.
Although always nurturing a passion for singing, he devoted his attention to other aspects of the industry, before returning to the music scene in 2017, and so, while he is a relatively new artist, I’m sure we can expect a lot of good things from him, in the future.
And until then, we can dance…
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