The Imaginary Suitcase is the one in which Belgian singer-songwriter Laurent leemans keeps his dreams, his lost or hardly breathing illusions and the images of his fantasized lives.
The Imaginary Suitcase is also the solo avatar of Belgian lad Laurent Leemans, singer and guitarist in the acoustic folk-rock combo Ceilí Moss from 1996 to 2015 and before that in arty band La Vierge du Chancelier Rolin in the 90s.
Cracker sang “what the world needs now is another folksinger like I need a hole in my head” and they were not wrong, but in 2012, after 14 years spent in a band of 5 to 8 musicians playing full throttle Poguesey folk-rock, the desire to bring to life songs that didn’t fit in the Ceilí Moss sound got stronger than the fear of becoming the 1001st whining brat who strums two and a half chords and moans his small time existentialism, so that everyone understands what Schopenhauer meant when he wrote about boredom as a metaphysical experience…
Soulful and ultra melodic songs built round a deep and versatile voice (think of the son Suzanne Vega and Nick Cave would have had) at times caressing, at times ominous, deceptively simple guitar chords, and often sarcastic lyrics about life, death, and the confusing bits inbetween. Live, Laurent uses different acoustic guitars, an autoharp and some percussion to bring a surprisingly full, varied and generous performance for a guy alone.
This project began as a mere recreation, and Laurent expected not much of it except the selfish satisfaction of seeing some personal songs come to life, but The Imaginary Suitcase grew way beyond it’s founder’s wildest expectations with gigs (awkward at first to find yourself alone on stage when you’ve always had half a dozen excellent musicians behind your back…), praise and enthusiastic comments from the blogosphere and occasional cooperations with Jean-François Durdu (of Ceilí Moss, Camping Sauvach and Bow), Marc Gunn (of the Brodbingnagian Bards), Jessica Kilroy, Seesayle, Formiga & Cigale, Tiny (from Doosra), Marieke Lightband or Florence Estragues.
Can you say The Imaginary Suitcase is a sort of Belgian counterpart to The World Of Skin or maybe Joseph Arthur’s evil twin? Why not? And the listener will probably also perceive the influence of The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Smiths, Nick Cave, Rowland S. Howard, 16 Horsepower/Wovenhand, Paul Roland, Brendan Perry, Death In June, Hugo Race, The The, Lloyd Cole or Leonard Cohen.
And so, since 2012, The Imaginary Suitcase has released nine self-produced records and played a rough 300something concerts everywhere in Belgium and occasionally (for the moment, he he…) in the Netherlands and in the north of France.
SOURCE: Official Bio
LINKS:
http://www.theimaginarysuitcase.be
https://twitter.com/laurentleemans
https://instagram.com/laurent_leemans
https://www.reverbnation.com/theimaginarysuitcase
https://soundcloud.com/the-imaginary-suitcase
