[DROELOE](https://www.instagram.com/droeloemusic/?hl=en) is all about [_A Matter of Perspective_.](https://bitbird.lnk.to/amatterofperspectivepr) Pronounced “drew-lou,” the Dutch electronic musical duo return with their most complete and sophisticated body of work to date. The highly-anticipated anthology album serves as the final release from the partnership between founding member Hein Hamers and Vincent Rooijers, following the announcement that the former will be leaving the group to pursue other endeavors.
Released via bitbird, [_A Matter of Perspective_](https://bitbird.lnk.to/amatterofperspectivepr) is a combination of DROELOE’s 3 previous EPs, equipped with 7 brand new tracks fusings the genres of pop, dubstep, hip-hop, classical, and electronica in true DROELOE fashion. The guys have worked super hard in building the ultimate virtual release experience with Discord, in the form of a guided audiovisual museum tour taking fans on a journey through their anthology. Each of the 4 rooms represent one of their projects, with the last room being a gift shop holding exclusive anthology merch and vinyl.
The two creatives initially met in art school in the Netherlands working on a movie project together, going on to release their debut single in 2016 titled “Bon Voyage.” Fast forward to the end of 2020, moving forward the multi-disciplinary audiovisual project will be helmed solely by Rooijers.
_Flaunt_ caught up with Hein and Vincent via Google Meet, with one located in Holland and one located in Vancouver. Read below as we discuss the early days, the release of the new project, the virtual museum, favorite songs, selling vinyl, love for sandwiches, and more!
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**Bring us back to the early days of DROELOE, I know you guys met in art school.**
**Vincent:** In the beginning, it was the 3 of us. The director of that project we were working on, Hein, and me. Hein was doing the visual effects, I was doing sound design. In the moments we weren't working on that project, we decided to make some beats for fun and see where it would lead.
**At what point did you realize you could be a duo together?**
**Hein:** Was there a big realization? I don’t think so.
**Vincent:** No, it just happened. We kept going and making stuff. At some point, we became acquainted with San Holo and Bitbird. The first couple releases did really well.
**What’s the inspiration behind your name?**
**Vincent:** At first, it was a joke. It literally means to be a little wasted. Right Hein?
**Hein:** I think so, yeah. \[laughs\]
**Vincent:** It was a joke and it stuck.
**How have you guys been holding up in COVID-19?**
**Vincent:** It's been rough with quarantine and everything, but we were ready. Because of the time difference and the different places where we live, we’re already used to doing calls. That didn't change that much, but it was definitely rough to make that transition.
**_A Matter of Perspective_ out now! What are you guys most excited for?**
**Hein:** Well the album’s out, that’s the thing we’re most excited for at first. We did a virtual art gallery on Discord that's still live now. We started that yesterday, that’s the second thing we’re most excited for. Now it's all out there, we're excited to see how people interact with it.
**Vincent:** That's a good way of putting it.
**What's the significance in the title?**
**Vincent:** It puts together all the 3 EPs we've done so far. The first was more about our past lives, the second’s more about our present moment lives, the third EP’s more about how we think about our future. _A Matter of Perspective_ is taking all of those ideas and shifting the perspective around, therefore this double story.
**Why is this your last project together?**
**Hein:** Of course it's super poetic that an anthology album is the last thing we did together, although it wasn't really thought of as "hey, this is gonna be the last thing." We both come to a point where it feels like this chapter of us working together is closing and we're both ready for some different things. We both had some really long conversations together and landed on a point where it might be better to go our own separate ways.
**What do you want fans to get from this project?**
**Vincent:** It's hard to sum that up in one sentence, to be honest. Mostly to try to enjoy life and stay as aware as possible, to focus on positive growth. These are messages we’d like to see translated in how fans perceive our work.
**What songs mean the most to you and why?**
**Vincent:** To me, "Back When" and "Treasure Map" are definitely a big two. Because "Back When" is the first track off the first EP and "Treasure Map" is the last track of everything pretty much. That makes the circle round.
**Hein:** I agree, those two tracks really symbolize the beginning and the end of the story. That's the best example, these tracks are the real embodiment together.
**Talk about the virtual experience with Discord and why you guys chose to do it with that platform.**
**Hein:** Discord’s more so gaming related originally. We've done 4 physical art galleries, before COVID obviously. With this being a collection of all the work that we've done and more, it made sense to do another art gallery. Obviously, we couldn't in real life. We figured out hey, what would be a similar experience? Maybe an even more focused experience to show people the art and the thought that went behind everything? We landed on this whole Discord idea.
**Vincent:** Also to juxtapose the idea of a museum with a modern platform that's self-leading like Discord.
**What's your favorite part of the museum?**
**Hein:** Honestly my favorite part of the museum was to see people's reactions and hear people's experiences that they had. The whole museum’s narrated by Vincent, it's about the stories that inspired the music and the artwork. They're often very personal. It's really interesting to see how even though those are really personal, they really connect with people. Also to hear what their stories around those tracks, it's very interesting seeing people interact with it.
**Vincent:** Definitely.
**Talk about the gift shop where fans can buy exclusive merch.**
**Vincent:** The gift shop in the Discord wasn't really an actual gift shop to be honest. It was more so a place where we’d hop in and be on voice chat with a bunch of fans who were on. More an immersion thing, felt more like a museum. We wanted to turn one of the channels that people post memes in and turn the name into The Lavatories, also in the same mindset of it being a museum.
**What about the vinyl?**
**Hein:** We have vinyl, it's the first time for us doing a vinyl release. That's something we're really excited for.
**Veinent:** Yes, for sure. First physical thing.
**Hein:** We've both seen some samples of the vinyl, but we haven't had the final product in our hands yet. I'm super excited for that to come in. We're excited for the fans to get it and be able to effectively listen to most of our work physically.
**What are some goals for your solo careers?**
**Vincent:** We're both gonna take it easy for at least two or three weeks, don't think about anything creative-wise. Afterwards, we both have a lot of ideas. I'm really excited to continue making the music again. For you, it goes the same in terms of creating visuals right?
**Hein:** Yeah definitely. We've had quite a couple intense months with getting the whole album done, getting the art gallery done, everything. It's now time for both of us to take it easy for a couple weeks. We'll see where we go from there.
**Anything else you want to add?**
**Vincent:** I like sandwiches!
**What kind of sandwiches?**
**Vincent:** All kinds of sandwiches. \[laughs\] I love the idea of creating a whole meal on top of a piece of bread. Meticulously though, it's not like I put spaghetti and meatballs on there. Sometimes I do. Love sandwiches, experimenting with them.
**Hein:** What type of bread is the preferred bread?
**Vincent:** Depends on what type of meat. Because if it's turkey, then I like mostly brown or whole wheat bread. If it's egg or bacon, then white bread.
**Hein:** Understandable. The bread game in the Netherlands is strong. To America, it’s strong.
**Vincent:** Yeah not to talk bad about American bread, but you guys over there have lots of learning to do in terms of bread. \[laughs\]
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