Listening to the self-titled debut album from Weval, aka Merijn Scholte Albers and Harm Coolen, it’s hard to believe that it’s barely three years since the Amsterdam-based duo put out their first EP. Blending grandiose synth hooks with Krautrock-tinged drum lines, the album balances creativity and accessibility in a way that demonstrates a level of songwriting maturity that belies the relative infancy of the outfit behind it.

Having met through a mutual connection to filmmaking, the duo brought their disparate influences and music making backgrounds together to create their debut Half Age EP back in 2013. Its ear-catching combination of emotive synths and cinematic atmospherics caught the attention of German label Kompakt who promptly signed the duo, releasing a pair of EPs and now their debut full-length.

With the album in the bag, Albers and Coolen are now turning their attention to expanding Weval’s live show, moving beyond the standard Ableton/ controller approach with the addition of a live drummer and a looser, semi-improvisational approach. FM caught up with Weval in their rehearsal space in Utrecht, grabbing a brief moment of downtime amidst preparations for the band’s first live shows as a three-piece.

FM: When and how did the pair of you first start making music together?

Harm: “About six years ago, through a mutual friend. We were both into film and the original idea was to get together and talk about a film project. We did that project, and it was really nice to know each other, but in the meantime throughout those brainstorm sessions we showed each other some music we were working on and had a feeling we could do more together creatively. We both had different taste and a different background in terms of what we were listening to when we were young, but it was nice to do. So we did it more and more.”