CURRENT is an album, concert, and visual world created on the water by NYC based vocalist, pianist, composer, and producer Vivienne Aerts with an international ensemble, blending nature, jazz, and electronic music: “I recorded the album on board a 1951 Dutch sailboat, capturing songs, layers of voice, and the sound of water itself. It is built from original songs and soundscapes, shaped by themes of empathy, listening, and the quiet power of movement.”
To celebrate, we are planning a very special release concert and party in New York on June 28. It will take place on the water with Manhattan By Sail, the historic Clipper City, whichbegan as a cargo schooner before the Civil War and was reborn through restoration using original Smithsonian plans. We will cruise the harbor at golden hour while we enjoy sweeping skyline views and striking visuals projected onto the sails, all set to the songs from the new album Current, the kind of atmosphere that feels completely right for this project.
In the summer of 2025, vocalist and composer Vivienne Aerts set sail across the Dutch waterways aboard her 1951 mahogany sailboat De Vouw. Over two weeks she transformed the tiny boat into a floating studio, recording new songs and soundscapes that blur the lines between jazz, improvisation, and environmental art. Current captures the sounds of creaking wood, rippling waves, passing locks, and birds in flight, weaving them with voice, electronics, and acoustic instruments. The project explores how humans and water coexist – reflecting both the Netherlands’ heritage of “living with water” and the fluidity of creative life itself.
What began as an experiment in site-specific recording soon became a collective voyage. Aerts invited fellow Dutch musicians: Hermine Deurloo (harmonica), Susanne Alt (saxophone), and Adinda Meertins (double bass) to join her on different lakes and canals, each session shaped by the elements. Ted Steinebach documented the journey for a short film that will accompany the album’s release with help of NYC based Producer Art Jones. The resulting work blends documentary realism and sonic poetry, balancing spontaneity with deep listening, a continuation of Aerts’s long-term dialogue between mindfulness, sound, and community.
Set for release on Spring 2026, Current invites audiences to reflect on the movement of water as both metaphor and environment. The album will launch with floating concerts in the Netherlands and the United States, alongside workshops and talks on creativity and sustainability. Building on Aerts’s acclaimed collaborative album Typuhthâng, Current marks her most intimate project yet, one that flows between continents, generations, and disciplines, reminding us that music, like water, is always in motion.
“As a Dutch artist, I carry a deep connection to water, we live with it, not against it. CURRENT lets water steer the sound, capturing the movement, reflection, and resilience that define our culture.”
“Sound on the water is unlike any studio; full of resonance and mystery.” – 3voor12 Leiden, >> Read full article <<
About Vivienne
Dutch New York-based vocalist, conductor, and composer with a focus on electronics, chocolate, and multi-sensory experience design, as well as a clinical psychologist and faculty at Berklee College of Music in Boston.