21-year-old Max Blansjaar was born in Amsterdam, raised in Oxford and recorded his debut album in Brooklyn. He has been featured in Brooklyn Vegan, The Post, Clash Magazine, CLOUT, Bandcamp Daily, Various Small Flames, The Alternative, and Atwood Magazine, and his music has been championed by BBC 6Music and BBC Introducing.
Blansjaar first appeared on the scene in 2018, aged fifteen, promoting shows in all-ages venues and performing his playfully sincere lo-fi indie pop songs, while releasing his early EPs—which he recorded on an old laptop at school—through the indie label Beanie Tapes. For his debut album, the 21-year-old spent two weeks recording with Katie Von Schleicher (Frankie Cosmos, Wilder Maker, Sam Evian) at her home studio in Brooklyn, New York. Here Von Schleicher and co-producer Nate Mendelsohn (Wilder Maker, Market) helped to expand the sonic horizons of Max’s elaborate and intricate demos. The result of the sessions are ten songs that feel somehow grounded in Brooklyn, Oxford, Amsterdam, or somewhere in between. False Comforts was released on 21st June 2024 via Beanie Tapes.
“Stark, unassuming genius… deadpan, lo-fi pop tunes delivered with buzzsaw accuracy” — Clash Magazine
“False Comforts is a body of work that looks set to cement Blansjaar’s status as one of the scenes brightest shining lights” — CLOUT
“Max Blansjaar’s witty, narrative-driven lyrics recall the masterful storytelling of acts like The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle or the anti-folk brilliance of Jeffrey Lewis” — Broken 8 Records
“A place where the breeziness of The Magnetic Fields collides with the guitar-shimmer of Cate Le Bon, and the lyrical playfulness of Tullycraft” — For The Rabbits
“Experimental, bold and ambitious…a true work of imagination and vision” — Nightshift Magazine