Marike Jager presents new single + Announces 5th album

Believe the hype: Marike Jager is back with a vengeance. Over the last fifteen years, the singersongwriter has created an innovative, highly personal body of work in The Netherlands and beyond. Jager kicked off her career with the talent award Grote Prijs van Nederland, while her records have racked up four nominations for the prestigious Edison music prize. As an acclaimed live act, she headlined several sold-out club and theatre tours and played every major Dutch festival, bowing to thousands of slap-happy music lovers. So far, so good.

But now for some news: after a five-year hiatus, it’s time for something different.

Hey Are You OK (September 6) is Jager’s fifth studio album. She considers it a debut nonetheless, a fresh start allowing all layers of her voice and guitar more freedom than ever. Jager found inspiration in what she loves listening to the most. Like Beck. And Madonna, Eels and soundtracks. Beach House. Fela Kuti. The Kinks cranked up on a Summer’s day. The crystal-clear twang of a Fender Mustang on crisp vinyl

Jager centered the album around oddballs and their unique stories. Loners being lost, vulnerable or led astray. Because every now and then, life is simply more fun and exciting when things aren’t too perfect. When we let people in that think differently and do things their own way. Hey Are You OK is her ode to imperfection, a loving embrace of living without a filter.

Producer Paul Willemsen (Michelle David and the Gospel Sessions) and mixing engineer Tchad Blake (Arctic Monkeys, Sheryl Crow, The Black Keys) couldn’t love that edge more. Like Jager, they’re constantly looking for contrast in their work: black-white, old-new, analogue-digital. Letting music be cool just the way it is. The power and beauty of unvarnished unpredictability.

The result is a fresh, versatile indie-pop record on the intersection of instinct and inspiration. Twelve original tracks weave an intricate web of strings, synths and DIY samples, rebuilding classic song structures layer by layer. Hey Are You OK is provocative, atmospheric and unmistakably Marike Jager.

Hey Are You OK will launch an extensive tour, consisting of shows at club venues as well as festivals. Because you better believe that Jager’s four-piece band can’t wait to come out to play.

Hey Are You OK will be released on V2 Records on the 6th of September!