Alas My Love is one of the best albums released in 2009. The album kicks of with ‘The Sunset’, a light, slightly melodramatic song. A decent guitar line, soft drums, dreamy background vocals and Vanparys’ slightly high voice. Fantastic. Then softly moving in to ‘There I Am’, which got the same vibe as ‘The Sunset’. Now, don’t think all his songs sound the same or have the same vibe. This record is diverse, but still ‘one’. ‘Everything I Like’ is a lot more ‘poppy’, while ‘Taxidream’ embodies the ‘new-jazz-movement’. Think hand claps on ‘Alas My Love’ and sadness on ‘Maria’. But also think hints of psychedelic music, hints of classic singer-songwritership, hints of well, a lot genres.

On all his songs, Vanparys keeps the instrumentals rather ‘minimal’, usually driven by a guitar, He adds some drums, bass, backing vocals, keys or/and violin. There’s never an overdo on instruments or melody-lines. This is given the songs a bit of a soft, empty and hollow sound, which results in a slightly dark, but also magical vibe on this album. The songs on this album are very subtile. You also hear that every instrument, every note, is thought about. Though, that isn’t really annoying at all.

The Bony King of Nowhere’s debut album ‘Alas My Love’ is a beautiful and promising piece of music. Great arrangements that fill the air with music. The album is slightly unusual form what I’ve heard from other singer-songwriters or other nu-folkies. Therefor, The Bony King of Nowhere stands out in the crowd. Simply give him a listen and you know what I mean. 

In three years, THE BONY KING OF NOWHERE has had an impressive journey that has not failed to attract attention. The young Ghent native has been notably complimented by Devendrea Banhart. His magnificent and warm first album wavers between Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Devendra Banhart and Radiohead, giving us a glimpse of his personal and daring side through his compositions. His pop-tinged folk with shades of melancholy has created the following rumours: "a major hit", "Belgian album of the year 2009", "hyper convincing" and "extremly enthusiastic".