I.N.K.T. Wanders Europe To Collect Its Stories and Search For Meaningful Connections

One of the talented acts signed with Wisseloord Publishing/BMX Benelux is INKT. INKT is a collaboration between singer Frederike Palmen, guitarist and Wisseloord Academy alumnus Ward Reijmerink and eight talented musicians from different backgrounds. The collaboration arose from a mutual need to capture personal experiences in music and lyrics. Last year they captured experiences in a unique way: they wandered Europe “professionally in love” looking for local stories.

Every track is the soundtrack for a film that doesn’t exist
INKT makes melancholic indie pop with idiosyncratic lyrics about everyday things. After all, such a real story gains universal value because the listener recognizes themselves in it. Frederike and Ward say that the everyday things can be a long conversation on a warm summer evening. A heated discussion and buzzing ears. The wind that blows around your face when you cycle home tipsy. INKT is difficult to capture under one heading and that is precisely their strength. Every track is sincere and emotional, intimate and compelling. In 2018 they presented their debut album in a sold-out TivoliVredenburg. After a period of musical exploration and the birth of their daughter, they have found their musical home, but that did not stop them from exploring.

DNA of Europe
Frederieke and Ward feel that as songwriters, you are often in your own head, or working with like-minded people in a studio. On October 28, 2022, INKT released the EP Zeg me je naam. For this EP, they went into ‘their’ neighborhood – the Indische Buurt and the Dapperbuurt in Amsterdam East – to talk to people and to use those conversations as a creative basis for their work.

This way of working suited them. The special story of Frederike and Ward forges ahead in their transnational project DNA of Europe: ‘With our two-year-old daughter, we travel through Europe for ten months to collect the stories of our continent. During this journey, we speak to ordinary and special people we encounter. While traveling, we collect the stories of Europe and search for connections. We hope to show with the music and the stories on this album that beyond the political fragmentation and beyond all borders, we have so much in common.’

INKT investigated this more deeply by fully focusing on encounters with strangers, in countries where they do not speak the language, they aim to be a mirror for the Europe in which they live. They hope to show with the music and the stories on this album that there are common denominators beyond all borders. Curious about their process? Follow the music family’s documentation and updates here!

Photos: Liz van den Akker