It would get tropically hot on this rainy Thursday night. And a surprisingly large and heterogeneous crowd rushed under umbrellas to the club Exil in Zurich. An evening with Son Mieux was about to go down. The band's heavily disco-styled sound attracted young and old, fashionable and boring business casual, united in their search to flee the dreary everyday life for a short moment.
Then again, the pull of Son Mieux is not too surprising. In the Netherlands, their home country, they will soon play their first stadium shows. A success like that is always going to spill over to other countries.
In the interview with Negative White, however, Son Mieux's mastermind, Camiel Meiresonne, looked forward to the more intimate shows on their European tour: «We can be a band with a big show and grand gestures. The gigs in Holland have become huge, so it's fun to play smaller venues again and find these smaller moments of intimacy.»
Asked what people might expect from their show in Zurich, Meiresonne said what he would sort of repeat on stage later: «We want people to feel that they can simply be whoever they want and feel whatever they want for that night. Life is everything between happy and sad, and I hope our concerts can be a place where you can feel all of it.»
But first, it was on Pat Burgener's shoulders to get the audience cooking. The active professional freestyle snowboarder from Lausanne, Switzerland, has been setting up an alternative career path in music since 2014 with remarkable success. And a portion of the crowd came just to see him.
I heard a couple of his songs before, but the problem is that I keep forgetting them all the time. And it was no different that night. The ingredients are there. Pat Burgener plays with sensitivity; his voice sounds beautiful, but the compositions are anything else but new. It is the issue with «a guy and a guitar» setups: There have been so many before him.
So he stood on stage almost like a surfer boy’s version of Bob Dylan, including the occasional harmonica effort and a kick drum, but without the abrasive edge.
It all sounds a bit harsh. Pat Burgener’s appeal is apparent but not entirely my cup of tea. But even I have to admit: There were beautiful moments, especially when he called his brother on stage to perform his latest single, Ozone, with him as a stand-in for Tay Oskee. The harmony of them playing the song acoustically, two guitars picked up on just one microphone, was stunning.
While Burgener delivered a few magical glimpses, nothing prepared you for the sheer explosivity about to hit the club.
Son Mieux, spearheaded by frontman and exceptional entertainer, did neither hesitate nor falter. Uncompromisingly, they opened the floodgates and gushed their vibrant electricity from their microphones into the audience’s ears, then into their hearts, souls, and legs. Crackling sparks everywhere. The stage presence of Meiresonne and his enthusiasm stayed unmatched—only challenged by the impressive skills of multi-instrumentalist Maud Akkerman, who played not only the violin but also the trumpet.
The band, usually playing with seven members but reduced for this club tour to four, played an exciting 14-song setlist: Not too short to leave anyone disappointed, not too long for the energy to fizzle out. This Is The Moment provided a fitting introduction, and with four songs already in, Son Mieux came to their biggest hit: Multicolor.
Climaxing too early? No.
With Feels and Easy, they went back in time to the early beginnings of Son Mieux, when it was but a solo project by Camiel Meiresonne, envisioned as a singer-songwriter act. It became undeniable how far their music had come: While these early songs still hold up, especially the euphoric Easy, later compositions became vastly more sophisticated.
As Meiresonne explained in our interview: «With the first album, we had a full year of touring, which sparked a conversation within the band. […] Then, these songs evolved on stage; it felt like we only truly finished that record during the tour, but it was never captured.»
And it seems to be the case again for the songs on their sophomore record, The Mustard Seed. The tracks gained infinitely more verve—played with pressure and urgency. Nowhere became this more apparent than with their second-to-last song, Dancing at the Doors of Heaven. The recorded version holds a relaxed sense of excitement, fully uncovered live with irresistible thrill.
Exil was boiling; sweat was pouring. Singing, cheering, escalation.
And after a goosebump-provoking sendoff with their latest single, Tonight, two things are crystal clear: You have not experienced Son Mieux if you have never seen them live. And next time, they will play in a larger venue.
