Robin Kester - Dark Sky Reserve

Robin Kester’s music thrives in moments of quiet unrest. Her debut album Honeycomb Shades (2023) was named the best Dutch album of the year by NRC and de Volkskrant and was nominated for the 3voor12 Award. The record was praised for its layered production, subtle instrumentation, and the way Kester captures personal themes such as loss and alienation in melancholic, dreamlike sounds.

Now Kester returns with Dark Sky Reserve, her most layered and artistic work to date, which will be released on September 12 through the British label Memphis Industries. She combines minimalist lyrics with rich, lush arrangements in which Wurlitzer piano, brass, strings, harpsichord, synths, and fuzzy guitars merge seamlessly. Inspired by Air, the later work of Talk Talk, and Portishead.

Kester wrote much of her second album at night in her home studio in Rotterdam and during evening sessions in Bristol, where she spent a month working with producer Ali Chant (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding). The album also features guest contributions from Adrian Utley (Portishead) and Rozi Plain.

A visit to the water reservoir at Talybont-on-Usk in Wales, located in the Brecon Beacons Dark Sky Reserve, became a turning point in the creative process. The uncanny beauty of the deep, still water and the surrounding mountain landscape gradually seeped into her lyrics. Inspired by what becomes visible in the dark: Kester’s Dark Sky Reserve.