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ALUMNI VOICES | 5 MIN READ

By Kim Donaldson | Images by furthernotice

What began as a first-year jam session at ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� College Utrecht has evolved into a band with listeners across the world. Furthernotice— a group of five friends and musicians whose friendship was forged on UCU’s campus — released their debut EP, Until Further Notice, earlier this year: a five-track journey through distraction, connection, and self-discovery.

“T��� Until Further Notice EP is not just a collection of songs,” said guitarist Liam van den Heuvel ’25. “It’s a story of and reflection of where we are."

Building the band

Furthernotice first formed when guitarist Matías Barrionuevo ’24 gathered a few friends to play covers at the student bar. 

“Music has always been a big part of my life,” Matías said. “I’ve played guitar since I was 13, and being part of furthernotice gave me a way to express myself and connect with people during my time at UCU. Some of my best memories from UCU are the gigs, practices, and all the time spent together with the furthernotice crew.”

“It was this rebellious first-year boy-band kind of project,” recalled Liam van den Heuvel (’25), the band’s bassist/guitarist. “But every time someone joined, the sound evolved.”

Cato de Ruiter ’25, the band’s lead vocalist, remembers walking into rehearsal for the first time. “Before UCU, I mainly sang in choirs and A Capella groups. Rock was completely new to me. But it just worked—Song 2 by Blur, Reptilia, Arctic Monkeys. It was raw, loud, and so much fun.”

Drummer Linus Mayo ’25 soon joined, describing it as a “mutual crush.” “T���y had a drummer crush on me, and I had a band crush on them,” he laughed.

The final piece fell into place when vocalist and guitarist Kilian Kräutler, a PPE student from Austria, joined after an open-mic night. Though not a UCU student, he fit right in. “Kilian pushed us to start writing originals,” said Cato. “Before him, we’d always fall back on covers. But he came in saying, ‘No, we’re doing this seriously.’ That’s when everything started flowing.”

The evolution of self, through sound

By early 2025, furthernotice committed to recording their first EP. “We started writing in February,” Liam said. “By May, we were in the studio for one day to record everything, from nothing to a finished record in three months.”

The five tracks on Until Further Notice chart an emotional journey that mirrors the band’s own evolution. The opening track, Dawn, sets the tone with a spoken-word reflection on tuning out the world’s static. The Mill—the first song they wrote together—asks, “Was I made for this?”, a cry of uncertainty in the age of overstimulation.

Then comes In Your Hands, a soft, glowing track that Cato describes as “‘⁠⁠feeling small, like a little figure being held in someone’s palm, shielded and comfortable. It’s about feeling safe before stepping back into the chaos..”

The following track, Fractured Debris, captures self-doubt and fragmentation through rap and spoken word, a sonic turning point. The EP closes with Fledge, a soaring song about release and renewal. “T��� word means when a bird leaves its nest,” explained Liam. “It’s the moment of flight, finally becoming yourself.”

Cato recorded that final song while sick. “I was nervous because I’d been unwell for weeks,” she said. “But when I started singing that last chorus, everything just clicked. Everyone froze. It felt like the perfect ending.”

Beyond campus, still connected

Since its release, Until Further Notice has found listeners across continents. Liam is currently in Vietnam working on environmental research, Matías is now based in Chicago, and the others are scattered across Europe. Still, the band continues to write and share demos online. “Kilian sends chord progressions, Liam sends riffs, Linus edits them,” said Cato. “Even though we’re apart, it’s still alive.”

“It’s really what the EP’s about,” Liam added. “We live in a world full of distraction. Writing these songs was about turning inward—learning to listen again.”

The band’s name, once a joke at the end of campus gigs, has since become their mantra. “We used to say, ‘This is furthernotice—until further notice,’” Linus said. “It started as something playful, but now it’s who we are. We’ll keep making music—until further notice.”