We Got a Little Obsessed With LAWIJT.

“SOMETHING, SOMETHING, OBSESSION.” is about wanting the thing you know you should leave alone. Niels has said it could be a sugar craving, a crush, or something heavier, and the song never makes you pick. That is a big part of why it works. Everybody has their own version.

What won us over is how much it moves. It is the first time he has recorded in his lower range, and the verses sit low and close, like he is quietly talking himself into it. Then the chorus stretches every word out, and the guitars swing from loose and fun to properly heavy and back again.

A little past the halfway mark, the whole thing starts to warp. That is our favorite stretch of the song. When the opening riff finally comes back, it does not feel like a victory lap. It feels like the morning after. It runs 5:18, his longest song yet, and we never once wanted it shorter. It is hard to believe one person made all of it.

LAWIJT. (you say it “LA-WHITE,” and it is Belgian slang for loud noise) is Niels Strybos. He makes everything himself in Ghent, from writing and playing every part to recording, producing, mixing, and mastering the finished song.

The project has a great origin story. A few years back, his dad, a really good guitarist, bought an electric guitar, got tired of it, and went back to classical. Niels picked up the electric, loved how it sounded, and started writing songs with the guitar out front. Those demos became LAWIJT.

Before that came violin lessons as a kid, then the 2000s rock that made every teenager want to start a band: Placebo, Incubus, Finch, dEUS, early Soulwax. You can hear that era in the guitar tone. But what he really kept from those records is the idea that a song should sound like the people who made it, rough edges included.

This one came together over a few late nights, kept quiet enough for the neighbors, while his cat apparently decided it was the best thing he had ever made. Niels calls it his “mixing hell.” The soft parts and the loud, distorted parts kept fighting each other, and the new low vocal meant reworking the EQ over and over. He got it right, and the little rough spots he left in are there on purpose. He has a phrase for it that we love: imperfectly human.

There is one more thing we really respect: when he started LAWIJT., he chose not to tell friends and family, and not to push it in Belgium, because he wanted to see if the songs could find people on their own. They are finding people. Count us in.

Start with this one, top to bottom, and turn it up. Then go back to “LOST IN TRANSLATION.” and “ENJOY THE RIDE.” to hear where it all started. There is a whole album taking shape around these songs, about wanting something without quite knowing what, and we cannot wait to hear the rest.