Langour ・❥・Joost Klein・❥・

29.

The installation of the studio couldn't have come at a better time. Joost's head was bursting with ideas that needed to be recorded. He had been writing lyrics and song names in notebooks and on his phone's notes app. It was getting to the point where Joost was constantly recording voice memos and sending them to Fenne. This made sure that he could find them again, or if his frazzled mind collapsed, Fenne would have them on hand.

Fenne listened to them at the start, but so many began piling up in her inbox that she couldn't tell one from the other. With these countless memos came a skittish and fidgeting Joost. His white earphones made more appearances and he often sat with his hands clasped together and his thumbs circling each other.

Sometimes, Fenne would take one of his hands and hold it in-between hers. It seemed to work, but what worried Fenne, was the cause of Joost's restlessness.

She was relieved when the studio was finished and Fenne wasn't surprised that the team were recording almost every day. Daan was often over to contribute, as well as Enzo. Stuntje and Apson were almost always there, helping Teun tweak the soundboard and offer advice.

With coffees in hand, Fenne came home to the sound of a repeating beat. Her shift had been extended, much to her irritation, but she had taken orders from everyone before leaving that morning. It seemed that she wasn't the only one with an unexpected shift change, because when she made it to the living space, Hanna still wasn't back from the hospital.

'We've just finished Wachtmuziek,' Apson informed as Fenne handed him his iced beverage. 'We're going to start filming for it this Saturday.'

'What's the plan for it?'

'He wants to wear a balaclava and smoke.'

'Don't know why I asked, really.'

Joost stood with the headphones over his ears and nodded along with the finished song. He took the drink handed to him with a lop-sided smile and walked around to stand beside Teun's seat. The producer turned dials and Joost would turn them back. He leaned over the board to press buttons until he was satisfied, before taking the headphones off. The song played aloud and Fenne handed Stuntje the last drink.

'If it gets too much
If you get too annoyed
And you have a lot of sadness
If you need to learn hard
Need to study something difficult
If it all fails.'

Despite the upbeat music, the lyrics hit hard. The high-pitched melody changed to Joost's voice that rapped even deeper words. It didn't take much to see that Joost had gone for a change in style with his new work. Fenne could hear the difference in tone and production from the music she first heard at the clubs. She assumed this was brought on by the audiences Joost now had at festivals. His performances needed variety, but he also wanted to stick to his roots.

She also hadn't forgotten about his desire to enter the Eurovision song contest. Fenne was convinced that after this new album and after the collaborations that were still in the production process, Joost would be ready to send in an application.

'It sounds great, Joost,' Fenne said. 'Are you sure you want to film for this one? In a balaclava?'

'Of course. If you can't hakken to any one of my song, then I don't want it released.'

Fenne couldn't argue with that and turned to see her laptop on the coffee table. She walked around the sofa to take it back upstairs when she saw a notebook next to it.

Sitting open, the curled corners of its pages and messy, black hand writing were on display. The sporadic scribbles among lines of lyrics pointed to only one member of the team and its tossed position painted the picture of how it ended up there.