Wim Maesschalck started the label Slaapwel in Leuven, Belgium. He often found himself lying awake in bed, not sleepy enough to fall asleep, not lively enough to keep doing stuff. The fact that this was in Leuven is largely irrelevant. In one of those moments, he figured it would be good if there was more music that soundtracks the thin and undulating border between being asleep and lying awake. He deliberately opted for the sleepy side of things. So he set out, looking for people that would be good at making mind-soothing songs.

He asked them to write a sleep-inducing record, he listened to it, and when he failed to reach the end because he fell asleep, he released it as a musical record. All artists are various people he met through the years, different yet all connected with their unique talent at making “boring” music. This is not an insult.

“I love their music to death and I think they are all very capable of making wonderful sleep-inducing songs. In any case, don’t make too much of it. It is all just good fun. Sleepy fun.”

And so Slaapwel events are a somewhat organic continuation of what was started in Leuven. A way of experiencing performances in a different context. The frame of arriving, listening and departing replaced by the opportunity to drift away, to avoid the need to depart, to fall into a slumber, and to enjoy good coffee and, with luck, some fine pastry in the morning.

Are you interested in this project and would you like to bring it to your place / venue?