Review: WAAN - We Want WAAN (Sonar Kollektiv)

'We Want WAAN' is the  return of WAAN that we want, a new album out on Sonar Kollektiv that's different in so many ways!

You'll recall WAAN returned at the end of last year with 'Talking Trees' / 'Lodge Texas' (see review HERE) over two years since the album 'Echo Echo' (see review HERE) and we said then, "so good, they named it twice" (Ed. always worth repeating).

So this Dutch 'Monkey 'n' Tortoise' duo clearly work at different speeds (Ed. hence the album cover?) but what is clear is the "We Want WAAN";  being Bart Wirtz (sax) and Emiel van Rijthoven (keys) tucked away house in the middle of the peaceful Dutch island of Texel working on the dozen tracks that make up this sophomore album.

And I happy to report it's full of "out-there as Portishead/Massive Attack/Weekend a 'La Varieté' melt into a Sonar Kollektiv party" from the title track, the gentle/twisted 'Trees', with contributions from Marta Arpini (vocals), René van Munster (cello), Matteo Mazzù (bass) and Mark Schilders (drums), to the bonkers 'Mirrors' which "explores a new sonic territory with harmonizer-processed sax and frenetic bass & drum workouts, its live energy boosted by the sound of a real audience vibing along — recorded at Leiden’s legendary jazz bar De Twee Spieghels, where Ben Webster once played his final concert".

I love the two extremes of 'Talking Trees' and 'Mirrors' which seem to have more in common on repeated listens that you first think.   You don't have to know where Ben Webster stands in tenor sax history (Ed. he played with every jazz great from the 50s to 70s) to know theven he would acknowledge the progression to jazz-house post-punk avant-garde of 'Why You Didn't Get Me' that boarders on James Chance's no-wave or the distorted funk-jazz-house of 'Lodge Texas'.

And it'd be hard to say 'Cecilyum' is the middle ground as it starts as a slow church organ durge before "rising from the crypt" with Bart's sax - could you imagine Simian Mobile Disco and Jan Garbarek going to a Sunday service - me neither.  But if you know this is co-produced with WAAN and Oscar de Jong (of Kraak & Smaak) trust me to dispell any preconcieved notioned of K&S, as 'We Want WAAN' is nothing like them (in a good way - not that they are bad).

So what is BAD (the good one) is the contribution of Philly based rapper/singer Ivy Sole of original and clean versions of the track 'Baby Blue' with poetic hip hop jazz focusing on Sole's non-binary activism.

Whilst all this is going on there's a number of short interludes, the quirky 'Moto No Oto' and the title track which kind of set out their stall as hard to nail down / typical Sonar Kollektiv 'Berlin' to Gilles Peterson; wonder if they could do it live at We Out Here Festival?  Either way, these guys are ahead of the game in 2026 and we'd recommend the vinyl.

BUY LINK / PRE-ORDER: https://sonarkollektiv.lnk.to/WeWantWAAN

Artist: WAAN

Title: We Want WAAN

Release date: 23rd January, 2026

Label : Sonar Kollektiv

Catalog Number : SK549LP

Format: Vinyl LP / Digital / Bandcamp