Alban releases debut single ‘Droomdans’

Alban Sarens (1989) is a saxophonist, pianist and composer from Antwerp. For years, he has moved with remarkable fluidity between musical worlds and disciplines. As a musician, arranger and sidekick, he has performed with the likes of Stef Kamil Carlens, Guido Belcanto, Slow Pilot, Ellen Schoenaerts, Portland, Sir Yes Sir, Equal Idiots, Kids With Buns, Roosbeef and Het Zesde Metaal. Whether in the studio or on stage, Alban is always in search of that single sound capable of stirring the unspeakable.

In 2022, his life came to a standstill. The mother of his two daughters took her own life. What followed was a period of mourning, reorientation and profound inner transformation. Alban radically changed course: he resigned from his position as artistic coordinator at Trix and returned to his essence: music. Over the course of three intense years of grief, sorrow and a search for the meaning of love, he worked quietly on what has now become his debut album: 'To Break Your Heart'. The result is a haunting, instrumental exploration of loss, love and the power of vulnerability.

Alban returned to the core of his musicianship to capture what words could not express. His saxophone became his voice, channeling emotions and thoughts into pieces that carry both sorrow and light. The result is music that doesn’t demand attention but instead opens up space: for stillness, reflection and connection. Alban creates a sonic landscape in which grief transforms into growth, where silence is as meaningful as sound and where music gently guides the way toward solace.

The first single, Droomdans, is out now. The full debut album will follow in autumn 2026.

Droomdans is the opening piece of ALBAN’s debut album and is released as the first single ahead of the full record. The track sketches a dreamlike world that seems to float above us: a place we all secretly long for. A realm of softness, love and movement free from judgment and the moral frameworks in which we so often confine ourselves. Droomdans is an invitation to step onto the paths the album will traverse: roads that lead through pain and loss, but also toward love and embrace.

“Later on the album you hear the line: ‘There’s only the path we took.’ That sentence embodies the surrender to life as it is,” Alban Sarens explains. “It took me years to truly allow that realization in. But it is precisely in embracing that reality, in accepting what is, that I found deep solace. With Droomdans, I want to pass on that sense of solace.”