Synths, drums, guitar and a lead singer with a beautiful voice and an attitude like a jumping jack

Being 14 years old and living one hour away from civilization somewhere in the middle of Norway, Koen quickly realized in order to do something meaningful with his life he would have to learn how to make music. With a limited budget and no friends around to start a band, Koen started teaching himself how to play and record. Inspired by Radiohead’s seminal album ‘Ok Computer’ (the only CD he listened to for a whole year after finding it on sale at a record shop), Koen began with the guitar and soon mastered the entire album.

Given his isolation and lack of prior musical knowledge, it took Koen over two years to complete his first song, which, after keeping behind closed doors, he eventually uploaded to a Norwegian website for unsigned bands. The song was picked up by a radio station in Norway and started making its way across the Nordic airwaves. In spite of this positive reaction, Koen left his studio to pursue his studies at Hedmark University College. Two years later, he yearned for the days creating music alone in his basement. It was during this period of disillusionment that he birthed Klangstof, and penned the emotionally charged single “Hostage” to describe feeling stuck and itching for a creative outlet.

After uploading “Hostage” to Soundcloud, Koen’s manager received a middle of the night call from Mind of a Genius founder David Dann. Three months later, Koen was in Los Angeles getting his first taste of Drake and poised to sign a deal with MOAG.

In the same way that he created a meaningless stage name (“klang” means echo in Norweagan and “stof”, dust in Dutch), Klangstof set out to write about the unfamiliar to bring a level of mystery to the music that allows it to be self-interpreted by the listener.

The epic soundscapes and guitars remind you of the quiet and fascinating Scandinavian nature, while the synthesizers and drum-machines sound bring an industrial feel. Klangstof continuously and unexpectedly unites the polar ends of the spectrum, in such a way that you want to both dance and cry while listening.