Welcome to Snowstar Records, a Dutch indie label since 2003. Make yourself at home, feel free to listen to our releases and let us know what you think. Enjoy the music!
04 apr 25
Time Drifts is the first new I am Oak album since Osmosis (2019).
After experiencing a creative slump during COVID, Thijs Kuijken – better known as I am Oak – gradually rediscovered the joy and comfort of making music. His period of silence inspired a more introspective approach to songwriting, weaving themes of observation, shifting perspectives, and the passage of time into his songs. The result is the album Time Drifts, released today.
Thijs Kuijken: "After finishing about half of the songs on the album, I realized there was a pattern in my writing: one of observation. I was writing about things I had experienced as an observer or spectator, as if I were watching events unfold from a safe distance. A global pandemic, several deaths in the family, social and political unrest, war—so many things that you have no direct control over. Yet, they still affect you. You can reflect on them, but you can’t change them, so you have to let them happen. The world keeps turning. Time keeps drifting."
The release of Time Drifts will be celebrated with a club tour across Dutch music venues.
April 12 – RSD, Broese, Utrecht
April 12 – RSD, IORR, Epe
April 12 – RSD, Plato, Apeldoorn
April 24 – EKKO, Utrecht
May 23 – Der Aa-Theater, Groningen
May 24 – Hedon, Zwolle
May 25 – Mezz, Breda
Listen to kleine auto, grote hot wheel on all streaming platforms,
or get the record on Vinyl, CD, or high-quality download at the Snowstar Webshop
28 mar 25
To mark the release of the new I am Oak album Time Drifts, frontman Thijs has designed a limited edition tote bag. As a small thank-you, we’re including one with every pre-order—just a little something to carry your records, books, or whatever else you like.
They’re available while supplies last.
Pre-Order Time Drifts on CD & Vinyl
07 mar 25
You don’t know what you forget"—these philosophical words echo in the chorus of the new I am Oak single No Known Known.
Thijs Kuijken: “We all see the world from our own perspective. Along the way we learn and forget, and the sum of this makes us who we are. We don’t always know why we do things or where our impulses come from exactly. Our past is what made us, but it’s obscure—a story full of holes”
Thijs’ soft voice is accompanied by guitar, synthesizer, and a thematic cello melody—the result of a passionate Corona project by Thijs to learn to play the cello. No Known Known is the third single from the upcoming I am Oak album Time Drifts: an album where all songs are subject to and driven by the passage of time.
On April 4, 2025, I am Oak will release their new album Time Drifts via Snowstar Records, followed by a club tour across various Dutch venues.
21 March – Peel Slowly and See, Leiden (NL)
24 April – EKKO, Utrecht (NL)
23 May – Der Aa-Theater, Groningen (NL)
24 May – Hedon, Zwolle (NL)
25 May – Mezz, Breda (NL)
Listen to No Known Known on all streaming platforms
or get the high-quality download at the Snowstar Webshop
Watch the music video here
Pre-order the album Time Drifts on Vinyl & CD
07 feb 25
Love, nostalgia, and grief blend into the colorful new world of De Toegift
kleine auto, grote hot wheel—the new, second album by De Toegift—is a celebration of a childlike perspective and the constant desire to approach the world in an unconventional and playful way. This way of seeing the world is something De Toegift frontman Maxim Ventulé cherishes and continually seeks to capture in new ways through his songs and visual work.
Maxim Ventulé: "The small and intimate ‘Saponaria’ captures the essence of the album for me: it was inspired by a story where I met someone who had a duvet cover made of the same fabric as the curtains in my childhood home. That fabric is inseparably linked to countless memories from my youth and serves as a literal backdrop in my photo albums. What followed was a search for this fabric, and in that process, a story emerged for me in which new love, nostalgia, and grief intertwine."
In kleine auto, grote hot wheel, the world that De Toegift has already built is broken open and expanded with new sounds, colors, and themes. Inspired by 1990s Ikea magazines, childhood references, and personal archive material, Maxim collaborated with visual artist Marijn van Kreij to create a series of works that visually capture the abstract, colorful world of kleine auto, grote hot wheel.
The release of kleine auto, grote hot wheel will be celebrated with a club tour across Dutch and Belgian music venues.
13 feb - PaRaDox, Tilburg
14 feb - N9, Eeklo (BE)
15 feb - EKKO, Utrecht
20 feb - Merleyn, Nijmegen
21 feb - Der Aa-Theater, Groningen
22 feb - Paradiso, Amsterdam
27 feb - Rotown, Rotterdam
05 apr - Vegafabriek, Nijmegen
08 apr - AMOR, Antwerp (BE)
Listen to kleine auto, grote hot wheel on all streaming platforms,
or get the record on Vinyl, CD, or high-quality download at the Snowstar Webshop
31 jan 25
After the first single The Way I See It, Dreamt of You offers a second glimpse of the album.
Dreamy guitars, an interweaving banjo, and the intimate vocals of I am Oak frontman Thijs Kuijken. Dreamt of You is the new, second single from the upcoming I am Oak album Time Drifts—an album where all the songs are influenced by and driven by the passage of time.
Thijs Kuijken: “Dreamt of You is about how the past and present can come together in dreams, where the boundaries between the possible and the impossible blur, defying the fleeting nature of life, while the world keeps turning.”
The release of Dreamt of You is accompanied by a music video, created by Thijs himself.
On April 4, 2025, I am Oak will release their new album Time Drifts via Snowstar Records, followed by a club tour across various Dutch venues.
24 April – EKKO, Utrecht (NL)
23 May – Der Aa-Theater, Groningen (NL)
24 May – Hedon, Zwolle (NL)
25 May – Mezz, Breda (NL)
Listen to Dreamt of You on all streaming platforms
or get the high-quality download at the Snowstar Webshop
Watch the music video here
Pre-order the album Time Drifts on Vinyl & CD
