Jens Bouttery

Jens Bouttery (BE) is a Brussels/Rotterdam-based drummer, composer and producer active in a wide range of artistic disciplines.
When he finalised his education as jazz drummer at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, Jens got rooted in the Brussels Free Jazz scene whilst also working for film, theatre & dance on an international level. The drum set is still his home base but Jens became a multi instrumentalist throughout the years, curious for other input, unpolished mastery or even DIY-builds for instruments.

His artistic universe converges around live drums, ambient soundscapes, orchestral works, pop songs,electro-acoustic music or IDM. Next to Jens’ work for bands, theatre or dance, he has created original music for films including the multiple award-winning short Misschien Later and documentary Maarten Van Severen: Addicted to Every Possibility, both by Moon Blaisse. Other successful shorts he scored for include Allegory of the Jam Jar and The Day The Dogs Disappeared by Boris Kuijpers & Ruth Mellaerts. For director Anthony Schatteman, Jens wrote 2 scores: L’Homme Inconnu and Dag Vreemde Man for which he received the “Grand Prix pour la meilleure creation musicale” at the International Film Festival of Aubagne.

Jens' first feature film score for Stop Acting Now was a production by long-time theatre partner Wunderbaum. The films WTC: A Love Story (2020) and WTC: A Never-ending Love Story (2023) by Lietje Bauwens en Wouter De Raeve are both socially impactful films about political interventions responsible for the failed gentrification of the Northern Quarter in Brussels. For the films' original score , Jens utilized a mixture of edgy drumming with uncanny jazz horns based on a song of the protest movement of the 70s.
His most recent work is called The Imaginary Friend, a Virtual Reality Experience by SteyeHallema. The experience is currently traveling festivals around the world and receiving awards for its unique viewers' perspective and heart-warming storyline. In this soundtrack, melodic lines and homely instruments are blended with deformed sounds and electronics to create a distinctive fantastical world.