Bridging the Divide: “Lose Your Love” – Wagnerian-styled rock epic!
Jan Vranken (Songwriter, Composer, Lyricist, Producer) and his colleague Joost Peters (Composer, Arranger, Producer) formed the ‘Bridging the Divide’ recording project in 2014. They started recording with a revolving cast of session musicians, choosing a new line-up for every recording. Their successful first release, ‘Something Bothering You’ featured Argentinian singer Magali Bachor, while 2016’s ‘Mother’s Song’, featuring Riverdogs singer and ‘Edison’ laureate, Rob Lamothe, is their most critically acclaimed release so far. Bridging the Divide’s most recent release “Lose Your Love” caused a buzz in the scene because of the super line-up featuring Dutch rock’s elite – Vocals – Jan Willem Ketelaers ( Ayreon, Classic Rock Show), Bass – Joost Peters, Guitars – Joost Vergoossen, Drums – Sjoerd Rutten (Symfo Classics, Toontje Lager, Kayak), Synths – Werner van Gool (Symfo Classics, Zeno), Lyrics & Music – Joost Peters and Jan Vranken, Arrangements – Joost Peters and Jan Vranken, Sound Engineer – Filip Heurckmans, Production – Jan Vranken and Joost Peters.
But beyond the cast, everything here is proportionately big, the arrangement, the lead vocals and choral explosions, the nods to bombastic rock imagery, and the cinematic indulgence. It’s easy to recognize the show’s theatrical roots: everything sounds like it has been lifted from a Broadway rock opera show.
“Lose Your Love” isn’t just a single, it’s a performance piece of epic proportions. It’s is a fantastic song – vibrant basslines, thundering drums, searing guitar solos, resonant pianos and all-embracing strings, all led by an absolute power house of vocal talent.
The introduction builds up the song well, showcasing the restraining skills of the whole backing band. A quiet, piano-accompanied section starts the song off in earnest with the Gilmour-ish guitar wailing beautifully in the arrangement, followed by a pre-chorus with some bass work and solid percussion in the background too, which builds up into the first power-house chorus.
The second verse is accompanied by the soulful and fiery guitar, followed by a dramatic theatrical bridge section featuring stunning vocal and orchestral arrangements before leading to an explosive guitar solo. The instrumental section leads onto another verse which winds down to an outro.
This song is nothing short of breathtaking – musically it is complex, and a great rock epic. The quiet, contemplative opening eventually leads into the air-punching splendor of adrenaline that accompanies the rest of the track.
The power and emotion that singer Jan Willem Ketelaers puts into the song, eloquently translates the powerful lyrics about love and conflict into empathic affection. “Lose Your Love” is nothing short of incredible. Whether your mood is for something piano-driven, pensive and soulful, or something dramatically dynamic where guitars squeal and screech all about you, this record is perfect.
On this single Jan Vranken and Joost Peters – or rather, Bridging the Divide – provide a clean, well-articulated wall of sound production in an almost Wagnerian-styled rock epic. The track is practically in a category all by itself, scaling both musical and theatrical heights – an extremely imaginative six minute extravaganza.
