Pinkorange meets..
Eva van Manen
I think there is a rational approach to life nowadays, a feeling that we can control everything. Take the Netherlands, where the discourse of “we can control everything because we created land out of water” is even collapsing since the pandemic arrived. It creates more awareness that we have to listen to nature. One of the songs on my latest album De Diepte In is about this common approach. The song Hou Het Rustig is about lying awake and forcing yourself to work better and harder.
Where does the metaphor of diving into the deep comes from?
It’s about diving into emotional life, but also about the current trend of immediately speaking up without even thinking about it. Sometimes we forget to think before we speak up. We shouldn’t forget to find the nuance and see the complexity in things. I wouldn’t wanna live in a society with just shallow one-liners.
In your songs, you also refer to nature a lot. How does that inspires you?
I like to go to the sea, it helps me relativize the complexity of the world. You realise you’re part of a bigger picture. The concept of we and nature is a distorted idea; we are nature. The climate crisis is not a crisis of nature only, it’s our crisis.
The sea is so overwhelming, especially because such a big part of the world is sea. There’s plenty we don’t know about. At the same time we are busy with our lives and in our head. When I’m at sea it helps me relativize that approach of life.