Guido Belcanto discusses urban decay and new album

Guido Belcanto Explores Brussels’ Grittiest Neighborhoods

Urban wandering has long fueled Guido Belcanto’s creative process. While he never maintained a permanent residence in Brussels, the singer frequently travels to the Belgian capital to embrace its unpredictable atmosphere. According to the artist, he has spent time observing anime girls and the older men who wanted to take them upstairs at L’Espérance and visiting brothels near the Nord station. “I’ve never done that, but I have stepped into a brothel near the Nord a few times,” Belcanto stated regarding his nightlife excursions, adding that he feels no shame about those visits.

That romanticized view of urban decay, however, comes with a caveat. Belcanto acknowledges that the city’s rough edges are now threatening to tear Brussels apart. “I’m a romantic; I romanticize the dirty côté of the city. The slums. The dangerous, the forbidden attracts me enormously. But now it’s getting out of hand here. There’s not much left to romanticize,” he noted.

Jef Lambeaux’s Relief Inspires a Philosophical Turn

During a recent walk through the Jubelpark, Belcanto encountered the controversial marble relief inside the Paviljoen der Menselijke Driften. Describing the experience as an “revelation,” the singer pointed out how Jef Lambeaux captured the entirety of the human condition within the stone. “The whole theme of life is in it, everything that is so deep in my work: love, lust, suffering, desire, loss, hell, sin…” Belcanto observed.

The artwork, once dismissed as a “marble brothel” by conservative Catholic circles, provided the exact thematic anchor Belcanto needed for his upcoming record. “Tja, that way the overwhelming feeling was even greater. What a compliment, by the way, for Lambeaux. If you get reactions like that, then you have achieved the ultimate, right?” he remarked.

Bridging the Gap Between Pop Music and High Philosophy

Rather than relying solely on the biting, sarcastic humor found in his other songs, Belcanto chose a more serious philosophical approach for his new songs. The musician draws direct parallels between his worldview and the writings of Arthur Schopenhauer, and contemporary authors like Michel Houellebecq and Gerard Reve, asserting that life is a harsh horror.

“What is wrong with a folk singer who reads Schopenhauer?” Belcanto asked, brushing off the traditional divide between high art and low culture. “I have always built a bridge between the common people and the intellectual. Both university professors and dockworkers love my music, and I think that’s fantastic.” Fans can experience this synthesis of high-minded philosophy and folk tradition when the album drops on September 25 and during the live concert at the Ancienne Belgique on October 10.

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