Library Card are a post-punk band from Rotterdam comprising of Lot van Teylingen (vocals), Kat Kalkman (bass), Emre Karayçin (drums) and Mitchell Quitz (guitar). The band got together in the summer of 2021, originally as a trio plus drum machine, before adding Karayçin and their offbeat, irregular rhythms. Last year the band released debut single ‘Mirror Factory’ which introduced their dynamic and moody sound, accentuated perfectly by van Teylingen’s almost-spoken vocals which manage to sound at once deadpan and expressive.
Last month Library Card returned with brand new single ‘Sunflowers’, a song about being overwhelmed by the present and wanting to escape to the countryside. “I just want to get in a car and slam the door shut and not even take anything with me,” van Teylingen sings, “but drive hours and hours and hours to see sunflowers.” But true to the Library Card style, things are not quite as earnest as that might sound, the breezy carefree style undercut by sardonic lyrics and vocal delivery. What results works both on the immediate level (i.e. its lots of fun), but is also a pretty scathing commentary on contemporary existence too. As the band describe:
“We keep rushing through life, trying our very best to keep up with everything and everyone, feeding into our conditioned ambition and internalised capitalism, but because we try to do everything all at once, nothing really gets done. Nothing is in our control, nothing will happen the way you intend it to happen, nothing is set in stone. It’s okay. It is what it is.”
Watch the video by van Teylingen and Kalkman below:
‘Sunflowers’ is out now and available via streaming services and to download from the Library Card Bandcamp page.
Photo by Jade Sastropawiro