Tag: Copenhagen Denmark

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay Jonas Shares Sexy “Turn Down The Noise”

Jonas Rendbo, best known as the mononym Jonas is singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and neo-soul artist, who has widely hailed by the international music press as the Godfather of Scandinavian soul. Throughout the course of his two-plus decade career, the acclaimed Danish artist has managed to be remarkably prolific, continuously releasing copious amounts of original material, which he has supported with tours with Omar, John Legend, Joss Stone, Lynden David Hall and Bilal among a lengthy and growing list of others. The acclaimed Danish artist also won Artist of the Year and Best Video at the 2016 Scandinavian Soul Music Awards.

Since 2004, Rendbo has split time between Copenhagen and London, where he met his wife and started a family. While in London, he started collaborating with London-based producer and multi-instrumentalist The Scratch Professer, who coincidentally is Omar’s brother. Rendbo and The Scratch Professor had an instant musical simpatico and a couple of songs they wrote together wound up on Jonas’ sophomore album 2009’s W.A.I.T.T. 

That collaboration also managed to produce a handful of songs that Rendbo kept in the vault for the better part of a decade — until the four-song EP, 4ward Fast To Future, which was recorded, produced, mixed and mastered during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in April 2020. The EP, which featured “Pick Me Up” and “What’s Cooking” was a return to the warm, vibey neo-soul sound of his earliest work paired with Rendbo’s sultry and yearning falsetto and his uncanny knack for infectious hooks. 

4ward Fast To Future received praise from SoulBounce.com and ScandinavianSoul.com and it was a featured album on SoulTracks.com. And the EP’s material received airplay on soul music radio stations across the globe.

Building upon that momentum, the Danish singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist released the 4ward Fast to Future (Remixes) EP, an effort that features remixes of the EP’s material by friends and musical collaborators done in completely different styles. 

2023 was a big year for the Danish-born JOVM mainstay: Last year, he shared “Too Much To Mention,” a song rooted in earnest, lived-in lyricism and Rendbo’s unerring knack for razor sharp hooks.

The Danish artist finally released his long-awaited album Be The Light last Friday. Rendbo had been sitting on the album for some time: First, he didn’t know how he was going to release it. Should he release it through the DSPs or some other way? But more importantly, he had much more pressing and exciting concerns on his mind: Early last year, he and his wife had their third child.

The album’s release comes at an interesting point in his life. The acclaimed Danish-born artist celebrates his 50th birthday this month. And he thought that would be a great occasion to celebrate himself and a full life in music by finally releasing the album. “It is expected that you raise a flag when you turn a big corner like that, but I feel that if I release the album on my birthday, then the focus is not so much on me, but more on the music — which I prefer,” Rendbo says in press notes. 

Late last year, Rendbo shared “You Are Amazing,” a hook-driven and vibey bit of neo-soul built around a strutting, feel-good, two-step inducing groove that was roomy enough for Aaron Wood to contribute some buoyant, fluttering flugelhorn paired with Rendbo’s effortlessly soulful croon singing lyrics detailing the sincere affection and appreciation he has for his wife. It’s an old-timey and sweet thank you for everything that seems rarely heard these days.

Be The Light’s latest single, “Turn Down The Noise” is a lush and vibey, neo-soul built around a strutting two-step inducing groove, twinkling keys, bluesy and squiggling bursts of guitar paired with Rendbo’s yearning delivery and his penchant for catchy hooks and lived-in, earnest lyrics. “Turn Down The Noise” is a grown-ass sexy song that features a narrator, who tells his lover “put down that phone, turn off that TV and let’s get to it.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Jonas Shares a Soulful and Appreciative Bop

The Danish-born artist closed out the year by announcing that he’ll finally be releasing his forthcoming and long-awaited album Be The Light on January 12, 2024. He explains that he had been sitting on the album for some time: First he didn’t know how he was going to release the album. Should he release it through the DSPs or some other way? But perhaps more importantly, he had other concerns on his mind: He and his wife had their third child earlier this year.

This January, the acclaimed Danish-born artist celebrates his 50th birthday. And he thought that would be a great occasion to celebrate himself and a full life in music by finally releasing the album. “It is expected that you raise a flag when you turn a big corner like that, but I feel that if I release the album on my birthday, then the focus is not so much on me, but more on the music — which I prefer,” Rendbo says in press notes.

Be The Light‘s first single “You Are Amazing” is a hook-driven and vibey bit of neo-soul built around a strutting, feel-good, two-step inducing groove that’s roomy enough for Aaron Wood to contribute some buoyant, fluttering flugelhorn paired with the Danish artist’s soulful croon, singing sincere lyrics detailing the affection and appreciation he has for his wife.

The song as Rendbo explains gives his wife the praise she deserves. “I think it is only right that she gets some shine, especially after having carried and delivered our 3rd child. She doesn’t realize how much she is an inspiration to the people around her, and somebody has to tell her.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay Chopper Shares Atmospheric and Brooding “Moongirl”

JOVM mainstay outfit Chopper is the solo recording project of  Copenhagen-based singer/songwriter and musician Jonatan K. Magnussen, who is best known in Denmark for being the frontman of the goth band The Love Coffin. With Chopper, Mangussen specializes in what he has dubbed “shock pop,” a crowd-pleasing sound that draws from Eurodance, glam rock, industrial, disco and B horror films.

Pink Cotton Candy Records released the mini-album Shock Pop Vol. 1 earlier this year. Shock Pop Vol. 1 saw the Danish artist continuing to explore the inherent dualities of the human condition while touching upon love, sexuality and carefree joy. Sonically, the material was influenced by Pet Shop Boys, Skinny Puppy and Underworld — but while attempting to place those influences within a modern context. 

Shock Pop Vol. 2 is a stark contrast to the exuberant, dance-floor friendly material on its immediate predecessor with the forthcoming effort seeing the Danish artist crafting an atmospheric and cinematic sound that’s seemingly indebted to Rebel Yell-era Billy Idol, The Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus, Scary Monsters-era Bowie and others.

“Moongirl,” Shock Pop Vol. 2‘s first single is a slow-burning and remarkably cinematic track featuring atmospheric synths, a hypnotic and propulsive bass line, thunderous boom bap-like drum machines, twinkling keys, buzzing bursts of guitar paired with Magnussen’s dramatic delivery — and his penchant for crafting enormous, rousingly anthemic hooks.

The song reveals an artist, who is able to recreate that big 80s arena rock-like ballad with an uncanny specificity paired with introspective, melancholy lyrics and a subtly modern take.

Shot by Amalie Maj and Thomas Skjølstru and edited by Magnussen, the accompanying video for “Moongirl” features some fittingly brooding footage of lightning strikes, graveyards, Magnussen looking like a young Robert Smith with a lit candle in that graveyard, childhood and family photos of a dear one, who may no longer be with us, and lastly Magnussen walking along the shore. For those of you, who like me, were alive and conscious during early 80s MTV’s heyday, this one will bring back some fond memories.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Copenhagen’s Chopper Returns with Dance Floor Banger “Touch”

Jonatan K. Magnussen is a singer/songwriter and musician, best known for being the frontman of Copenhagen-based goth outfit The Love Coffin. Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past couple of months, you might recall that Magnussen recently stepped into the spotlight as a solo artist with his side recording project Chopper. And with Chopper, the Danish artist specializes in what he has dubbed “shock pop,” a crowd-pleasing sound that draws from Eurodance, glam rock, industrial, disco and B horror movies. 

Magnussen’s upcoming Chopper effort, the mini-album Shock Pop Vol. 1 is slated for a June 16, 2023 release through Pink Cotton Candy Records. The mini-album reportedly sees the Danish artist continuing to explore inherent dualities of the human condition while touching upon love, sexuality and carefree joy. Sonically, the album’s material is influenced by Pet Shop Boys, Skinny Puppy and Underworld — but placed in a modern context. 

In the lead up to Shock Pop Vol. 1‘s release, I’ve written about two of the mini-album’s previously released singles:

  • “Springtime,” a sleazy, dance floor friendly banger built around Magnussen’s sultrily delivered cooing, shimmering guitars, industrial clang and clatter, glistening synths and enormous, crowd pleasing hooks. The end result is a song — that to my ears — brings Electronic, New Order and Ministry to mind, while rooted in sleek, hyper modern production and razor sharp hooks. But underneath the dance floor rocking grooves, is something far darker and menacing. Written during the pandemic winter, the song illuminates the feelings of longing and isolation — capturing the desire to be out among friends, to meet lovers, to just do things with anyone. 

  • “Sugar and Spice” which begins with a brooding horn line, twinkling synths and percussion, a sinuous bass line and tweeter and woofer rattling thump paired with Magnussen’s and Glitchi‘s sultry deliveries and enormous Larry Levan-era house-like hooks. The end result is a sweaty and hedonistic banger that to my ears sounds like a slick synthesis of Ministry, The Sisters of Mercy and Electronic. 

Shock Pop Vol. 1′s third and latest single “Touch,” which features vocalist Ama May continues a remarkable run of sleazy, dance floor friendly bangers. But unlike its immediate predecessors, “Touch” is a sleek, slickly produced synthesis of the Madchester sound, eurodance, Larry Levan-era house and French touch built around the Danish artist’s penchant for infectious groove and enormous hooks.

The accompanying video continues along in the sleazy, DIY-meets-public access TV aesthetic of its predecessors and includes the collaborators in a strobe and laser lit club, mutants and more.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Chopper Teams Up with Glitchi on Hedonistic and Bombastic “Sugar and Spice”

Jonatan K. Magnussen is a singer/songwriter and musician, best known for being the frontman of Copenhagen-based goth outfit The Love Coffin. Magnussen recently stepped into the spotlight as a solo artist with his solo project Chopper, which specializes in what the Danish artist has dubbed “shock pop,” a sound that draws from Eurodance, glam rock, industrial, disco and B horror movies. 

Magnussen’s upcoming Chopper effort Shock Pop Vol. 1 reportedly sees the Danish artist continuing to explore inherent dualities of the human condition while touching upon love, sexuality and carefree joy. Sonically, the album’s material is influenced by Pet Shop Boys, Skinny Puppy and Underworld — but placed in a modern context. 

Last month, I wrote about Shock Pop Vol. 1 single “Springtime,” a sleazy, dance floor friendly banger built around Magnussen’s sultrily delivered cooing, shimmering guitars, industrial clang and clatter, glistening synths and enormous, crowd pleasing hooks. The end result is a song — that to my ears — brings Electronic, New Order and Ministry to mind, while rooted in sleek, hyper modern production and razor sharp hooks. But underneath the dance floor rocking grooves, is something far darker and menacing. Written during the pandemic winter, the song illuminates the feelings of longing and isolation — capturing the desire to be out among friends, to meet lovers, to just do things with anyone. 

Shock Pop Vol. 1‘s second and latest single “Sugar and Spice” begins with a brooding horn line, twinkling synths and percussion, a sinuous bass line and tweeter and woofer rattling thump paired with Magnussen’s and Glitchi‘s sultry deliveries and enormous Larry Levan-era house-like hooks. The end result is a sweaty and hedonistic banger that to my ears sounds like a slick synthesis of Ministry, The Sisters of Mercy and Electronic.

Fittingly, the accompanying video for “Sugar and Spice” is as maximalist and bombastic as its single while drawing from 80s visual cliches.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Jonas Shares Slow-Burning and Yearning “Too Much To Mention”

Primarily Copenhagen-based singer/songwriter  and multi-instrumentalist Jonas (born Jonas Rendbo) has been hailed by the international music press as the Godfather of Scandinavian soul. Throughout the course of his 20+ year career, the Danish artist has developed and maintained a reputation for being remarkably prolific, releasing copious amounts of original material, which he has supported touring with Omar, John Legend, Joss Stone, Lynden David Hall and Bilal among a lengthy and growing list of others. Adding to his accolades, Rendbo won Artist of the Year and Best Video at the 2016 Scandinavian Soul Music Awards.

Since 2004, Rendbo has split time between Copenhagen and London, where he met his wife and started a family. And while in London, he started collaborating with London-based multi-instrumentalist and producer The Scratch Professer, who coincidentally is Omar’s brother. Rendbo and The Scratch Professor had an instant musical simpatico and a couple of songs they wrote together wound up on Jonas’ sophomore album 2009’s W.A.I.T.T. 

That collaboration also managed to produce a handful of songs that Rendbo kept in the vault for the better part of a decade or os — until the four-song EP, 4ward Fast To Future, which was recorded, produced, mixed and mastered during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in April 2020. The EP, which featured “Pick Me Up” and “What’s Cooking” was a return to the warm, vibey neo-soul sound of his earliest work paired with Rendbo’s sultry and yearning falsetto and his uncanny knack for infectious hooks.

The EP was released to widespread praise across the blogosphere including SoulBounce.com, ScandinavianSoul.com and was a featured album on SoulTracks.com. Adding to a growing profile nationally and internationally, 4ward Fast To Future‘s material received airplay on soul music radio stations across the globe.

Building upon that momentum, the Danish singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist released the 4ward Fast to Future (Remixes) EP, an effort that features remixes of the EP’s material by friends and musical collaborators done in completely different styles.

“Too Much To Mention” is the first single from a forthcoming full-length album from the acclaimed Scandinavian soul artist. Featuring twinkling synths, a wobbling bass line, skittering beats and Rondo’s yearning delivery, the slow-burning “Too Much To Mention” is rooted in earnest, lived-in lyricism and Rendbo’s unerring knack for razor sharp hooks.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Jacob Haujberg is a Copenhagen-based multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter, known for his work with Palace Winter and Sleep Party People. Haujberg is also the creative mastermind behind the rising recording project Luster.

Haujberg’s Luster debut, 2020’s Turbulence was very much the sound of a band in the room, recording live and on the floor. But his recently released sophomore Luster album, PRESSURE, reportedly sees Haujberg crafting an eclectic, proggy yet accessible, and playful collection of songs that are simultaneously entertaining and moving. Thematically, PRESSURE looks outward and focuses on distorted communication and connection in a largely digital world — while considering pressure as a state that’s both personal and universal.

PRESSURE‘S latest single, the breakneck “BURN ALL BRIDGES” is a decidedly 80s synth pop inspired bop centered around relentless and metronomic four-on-the-floor, twinkling keys, squiggling synth bursts, Haujberg’s plaintive vocals and an enormous, rousingly anthemic hook. Seemingly drawn from Huey Lewis & The News, The B-52’s., David Bowie and even The Pointer Sisters, “BURN ALL BRIDGES” manages to feel carefully crafted yet earnest and immediate.

Haujberg explains that “BURN ALL BRIDGES” is a commentary on online communication and is a natural extension of PRESSURE‘s overarching theme. “If you press the world’s button it’s likely to push all of yours,” the Danish singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist says.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Copenhagen-based duo and JOVM mainstays  Palace Winter — Australian-born, Copenhagen-based singer/songwriter Carl Coleman and Danish-born, Copenhagen-based producer and classically trained pianist Caspar Hesselager —have released three critically applauded albums, 2016’s Waiting For The World To Turn, 2018’s Nowadays and 2020’s . . . Keep Dreaming Buddy, which have seen the Danish pop duo establish and hone a unique, genre-defying with a cinematic leaning.

During the pandemic, Palace Winter’s Carl Coleman kept busy by watching horror films. Naturally, it wasn’t long before the themes of the movies he was watching, started serving as inspiration for new material: The paranoia, existential fear and dread of those movies seemed to reflect our time with an eerily uncanny accuracy.

“Slasher” was the first bit of new material inspired and informed by the horror movies Coleman watched during lockdowns. Thematically, the song is about a serial killer roaming the streets and killing unsuspecting victims. And for the JOVM mainstays, “Slasher” was the first bit of songwriting together in person since the release of Nowadays.

Unfortunately, the duo’s creative process was interrupted when Coleman discovered that he had contracted COVID, a literal killer, rapidly roaming across the globe. “While we were making the song, I got COVID and had to isolate for a week in a small Corona-hotel room,” Coleman recalls in press notes. “The bizarre situation made me reflect on the fact that there’s this ‘killer on the streets’, and for many of us there’s a slim chance of avoiding it. Suddenly I had 3 meals a day left at my door, no contact with any other people and could only get fresh air in this super bleak shopping mall carpark. It was so dystopian, like a zombie flick.”

Centered around nods to Ennio Morricone Spaghetti Western soundtracks, 80s New Wave and synth pop, and 90s drum ‘n’ bass and house music, “Slasher” further cements the Copenhagen-based JOVM mainstay act’s wide-screen and genre-defying take on pop paired with their unerring knack for crafting razor sharp hooks. But unlike their preceding material, “Slasher” finds the duo thematically at their darkest — and simultaneously at their campiest with the song featuring the final line “But my soul keeps dancing.”

The JOVM’s first single of 2022, “The Big Blue” is an expansive track that clocks in at a little over six-and-half minutes and finds the Danish pop duo making a heavy nod to the krautrock inspired style of some of their earlier work while pushing their sound in adventurous new directions. Bursting out of the gate with a brooding and uneasy introduction featuring shimmering acoustic guitar and trippy melodies, the song features three distinct sections that reveal gradually shifting tones and moods centered around glistening synth arpeggios, relentless four-on-the-floor and an extensive Trans Europe Express-like synth solo section.

Rising Danish-born sibling duo PRISMA — Frida and Sirid Møl Kristensen — contribute dreamy harmonies throughout the song. The duo, who cite The Raveonettes, Vivian Girls, Trentemøller, The Cure, and Susanne Sundfør as influences on their work have received attention across Scandinavia and elsewhere for an uptempo, direct yet cinematic sound that reminded Coleman and Hesselager of some of their earliest work — in particular, their debut EP, 2015’s Medication and their full-length debut. “One of their strengths is the way their voices harmonize together. Especially in the outro it almost puts you in a trance,” Hesselager explains.

Figuratively, “The Big Blue” is a journey out of darkness and into brighter, more hopeful days. And I know that’s something we’re all desperately clinging onto in this weird time. “It’s about coming out of a trauma and changing yourself into something more positive. It’s about discovering a better version of yourself,” Palace Winter’s Carl Coleman explains.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: French-born, Danish-based Andrew Celestine Shares Brooding “Shattered”

Andrew Celestine is an emerging Rennes, France-born, Copenhagen-based singer/songwriter and musician. The Rennes-born Celestine relocated to Copenhagen back in 2015, where he began to pursue music full-time.

Celestine’s debut EP Shattered is the result of a two year journey for the self-taught French-born, Danish-based artist, with the EP’s five songs thematically being an open-hearted invitation into the melancholic, harrowing and at times universe of its creator. Sonically, the material is influenced by Depeche Mode, Moderat, French touch and Scandipop among others.

EP title track “Shattered” is a slickly produced, brooding, Depeche Mode-like track centered around glistening synth arpeggios, thumping beats and Celestine’s sonorous yet vulnerable baritone within an expansive yet dance floor friendly song structure. The song explores heartbreak and its devastation in a way that’s intimate, unvarnished and deeply familiar.

Filmed by Rine Rodin and edited by Celestine and Rodin, the video for “Shattered” follows a young woman — My Marie Nilsson — sneaking out of the spare bedroom and apartment of a lover, through the gray streets of an extremely Northern European industrial area, and into a creepy forest as the sun goes down.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Lucky Lo Releases a Swooning and Euphoric Anthem to Queer Love

Lo Ersare is a Umeå, Sweden-born, Copenhagen-based singer/songwriter, musician, and the creative mastermind behind the emerging indie pop project Lucky Lo. Ersare relocated to Copenhagen in 2014 and quickly made a name for herself as a busker and as an integral part of the city’s underground music scene, performing everything from folk to experimental jazz to improvisational vocal music. Along the way, her love for Japan and its music brought her to the island nation, where she has performed, grown a devoted fanbase and gathered inspiration, which has seeped into her music in various ways.

Ersare’s full-length debut, Supercarry is slated for a March 25, 2022 release through Tambourhinoceros Records. The album will feature previously released single “Heart Rhythm Synchronize,” which was about synching heartbreaks through love and song and album title track “Supercarry,” a sleek and seamless synthesis of Annie Lennox and Peter Gabriel, that thematically finds Ersare quickly establishing a major thematic concern in her work — the transformational power of radical love.

Supercarry’s latest single, “Ever” is a swooning and infectiously optimistic pop song centered around glistening synth arpeggios, a strutting disco-inspired bass line, shimmering and reverb-drenched guitars, a rousingly anthemic hook and Ersare’s plaintive pop belter vocals. Arguably, the most dance floor friendly of the album’s released singles, “Ever!” brings Talking Heads, and Annie Lennox to mind paired with the euphoria of Sylvester‘s queer anthem “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real).”

Lyrically, the song’s narrator has found a way to transform the hardships of living in a cruel and judgmental world that won’t allow them to be themselves into a deep, sustaining hope and confidence; the sort of quiet confidence to be self-assured in whatever your truth may be. As Ersare explains the song is an anthem for queer love.

The inspiration for the song began deep inside a YouTube rabbit hole. Ersara was binging on Freddie Mercury videos one night. That eventually lead to her researching the AIDS epidemic of the 80s, and the blacklash of homophobia the gay community felt back then.

She came across a video of a gay man, who bravely announced to a reporter that no amount of homophobia could keep gay people from loving each other that struck her as timeless. Since the dawn of society, gay people have been — and will keep on — loving in secret, despite antagonism, until the world eventually accepts them.

This video resonated with the Umeå-born, Copenhagen-based artist, who was then inspired to make a song for “anybody, who feels they are living a truth in secret can listen to, dance to, and feel that they will be accepted. By repeating the motion, it’s going to change the world,” she says.

Animated by Isabelle Friberg, the recently released video is a life affirming love song: We follow the video’s protagonists, who have a meet cute at local bowling alley and fall madly in love. They represent the love that man in the 80s video clip talked about. And while we get a glimpse into their lives and their love, we see Ersare and her band performing the song, while looking like characters straight out of Jem. The video manages to be brightly colored, overwhelmingly positive and a sweet visual that emphasizes the song’s swooning euphoria.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of 2016’s Waiting For The World To Turn, 2018’s Nowadays and last year’s . . . Keep Dreaming Buddy, the acclaimed Copenhagen, Denmark-based indie duo and JOVM mainstays  Palace Winter — Australian-born, Copenhagen-based singer/songwriter Carl Coleman and Danish-born, Copenhagen-based producer and classically trained pianist Caspar Hesselager — have received critical acclaim for an effortlessly genre defying sound described by some as a country krautrock and cinematic pop. inspired by an eclectic array of influences including Kendrick Lamar, Ennio Morricone, and Little Richard.

During pandemic-related lockdowns, Palace Winter’s Carl Coleman kept busy by watching horror films. And naturally, it wasn’t long before similar themes started serving as inspiration for new material: The paranoia, fear and uncertainty of the movies he was watched, seemed to reflect our current moment with an eerie accuracy. “Slasher,” the Danish JOVM mainstay act’s latest single was inspired and informed by the horror movies that Coleman watched during lockdown. And as a result, the song thematically is about a serial killer roaming the streets and killing unsuspecting victims.

For the Copenhagen-based duo, “Slasher” was also a long-anticipated return to songwriting together in person since their sophomore album. But unfortunately, the creative process was soon interrupted when Coleman discovered he had contracted COVID, a literal killer, roaming across the world. “While we were making the song, I got COVID and had to isolate for a week in a small Corona-hotel room,” Coleman recalls in press notes. “The bizarre situation made me reflect on the fact that there’s this ‘killer on the streets’, and for many of us there’s a slim chance of avoiding it. Suddenly I had 3 meals a day left at my door, no contact with any other people and could only get fresh air in this super bleak shopping mall carpark. It was so dystopian, like a zombie flick.”

Centered around nods to Ennio Morricone Spaghetti Western soundtracks, 80s New Wave and synth pop, and 90s drum ‘n’ bass and house music, “Slasher” further cements the Copenhagen-based JOVM mainstay act’s wide-screen and genre-defying take on pop paired with their unerring knack for crafting razor sharp hooks. But unlike their preceding material, “Slasher” finds the duo thematically at their darkest — and simultaneously at their campiest with the song featuring the final line “But my soul keeps dancing.”

“After all the heaviness of 2020 and COVID etc., we wanted to make something fun and danceable. So we developed a beat inspired by 90’s drum ‘n’ bass and things like The Prodigy, Portishead, etc.” Palace Winter’s Casper Hasselager says about the song’s creation impress notes. Hesselager, actively seeks to incorporate disparate influences in the band’s music and aesthetic adds “I was thinking, what if we put Palace Winter into a slasher movie? What would it look like? What would it sound like?”

Palace Winter is currently in the middle of their first international tour across the European Union and the UK in three years. Tour dates below.

Tour Dates

Nov. 15 @ Nochtwache, Hamburg, DE
Nov. 16 @ Privatclub, Berlin, DE
Nov. 18 @ Paradiso, Amsterdam, NL
Nov. 20 @ Omeara, London, UK
Nov. 22 @ The Hope & Ruin, Brighton, UK
Nov. 23 @ Thekla, Bristol, UK
Nov. 24 @ Gorilla, Manchester, UK
Nov. 26 @ King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, UK
Nov. 27 @ The Wardrobe, Leeds, UK

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of 2016’s Waiting For The World To Turn, 2018’s Nowadays and last year’s . . . Keep Dreaming Buddy, the acclaimed Copenhagen, Denmark-based indie duo and JOVM mainstays  Palace Winter — Australian-born, Copenhagen-based singer/songwriter Carl Coleman and Danish-born, Copenhagen-based producer and classically trained pianist Caspar Hesselager — have received critical acclaim for an effortlessly genre defying sound described by some as a country krautrock and cinematic pop.

Citing an eclectic array of influences on their sound and approach including Kendrick Lamar, Ennio Morricone, and Little Richard, the duo’s critically applauded material is generally centered around a number of different elements, but Palace Winter’s Caspar Hesselager wanted to strip the layers back of their material down to the bare bones. “As much as I love the process of production and building entire universes from scratch for each song, there’s something extremely gratifying about playing ‘the core’, or bare bones of the song on a single instrument. Many of our songs are built from playing acoustic guitar and piano together in the same room, and whenever we’ve had the chance, we’ve always had so much fun just going back and re-discovering our songs in that setting.”

Slated for an August 27, 2021 release through the duo’s longtime label home, Tambourhinceros Records, 6 Songs (solo piano) sees Palace Winter’s Casapar Hesselager playing piano-based interpretations of six songs across their catalog. The EP allows Hesselager to step out into center stage. 6 Songs (solo piano)‘s first single sees Hesselager turn Waiting for the World to Turn‘s twangy and anthemic “Soft Machine” into a brooding and meditative composition centered around an intimate and unfussy production. Besides being gorgeous, “Soft Machine (solo piano) reveals the classical and jazz underpinnings of their work, as well as their deliberate attention to craftsmanship.

The acclaimed JOVM mainstays will be embarking on a 16 date European Union and UK tour this fall. The tour marks their first international tour in over three years. Tour dates below

Tour Dates

Sep. 16 @ Harders, Svendborg, DK
Sep. 18 @ VEGA, Copenhagen, DK
Sep. 21 @ Gimle, Roskilde, DK
Sep. 23 @ Radar, Aarhus, DK
Sep. 24 @ Studenterhuset, Aalborg, DK
Sep. 25 @ Studenterhuset, Odense, DK
Nov. 15 @ Nochtwache, Hamburg, DE
Nov. 16 @ Privatclub, Berlin, DE
Nov. 17 @ Blue Shell, Cologne, DE
Nov. 18 @ Paradiso, Amsterdam, NL
Nov. 20 @ Lafayette, London, UK
Nov. 22 @ The Hope & Ruin, Brighton, UK
Nov. 23 @ Thekla, Bristol, UK
Nov. 24 @ Gorilla, Manchester, UK
Nov. 26 @ King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, UK
Nov. 27 @ The Wardrobe, Leeds, UK

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Rising Umeå Sweden-born Copenhagen-based Artist Lucky Lo Encourages Radical love and Vulnerability

Lo Ersare is a Umeå, Sweden-born, Copenhagen-based singer/songwriter, musician, and the creative mastermind behind the emerging indie pop project Lucky Lo. Ersare relocated to Copenhagen in 2014 and quickly made a name for herself as a busker and as an integral part of the city’s underground music scene, performing everything from folk to experimental jazz to improvisational vocal music. Along the way, her love for Japan and its music brought her to the island nation, where she has performed, grown a devoted fanbase and gathered inspiration, which has seeped into her music in various ways.

Ersare released her Lucky Lo debut single “Heart Rhythm Synchronize.” Released last month, the song was about synching heartbeats through love and song. Ersare’s latest single “Supercarry,” features the Swedish-born, Danish artist’s soaring and achingly plaintive vocals paired with an expansive arrangement featuring a sinuous and propulsive bass line, layers of shimmering and buzzing guitars and thumping beats. The end result is a song that expresses the deeply human need for companionship, compassion and love. Seemingly sounding like a sleek and seamless synthesis of Annie Lennox and Peter Gabriel, “Supercarry” thematically finds Ersare quickly establishing a major thematic concern in her work — the transformational power of radical love.

“In Scandinavia we have an incredible safety net. We live a safe, rich lifestyle on paper, but we are also the countries where the most people die alone,” Ersare says in press notes. “We have the capacity to be more inclusive, and we could use this power for the good of others and for enriching our lives.” Ersare continues “So much could be solved if we were to take more care of each other — check in with each other more. It makes you feel strong; like a good human being; an everyday superhero. The idea of doing the opposite of self, or that social care is self-care, is what I want to communicate. This song is about lifting others up, and letting yourself be lifted. It is about putting someone else’s needs in front of your own, and trusting that you will get the same care in return.”

irected by Philip Jørgensen, the recently released video is an 80s-inspired dance workout tape featuring choreography by Freja Kreutzfeldt that’s at points playful, sensual and full of longing and vulnerability as each dancer is seen being lifted up, treated tenderly and let go. “Our vision was to unite people in an act of Supercarry-ing through a choreography in which people are both being lifted up and let go… a celebration of the strength of vulnerability,” Ersare explains. “We want to encourage people to get up, move and take action—to Supercarry and to be Supercarried.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Copenhagen’s School of X’s Nightmarish Visual for Upbeat “Feel of It”

mus Littauer is a Copenhagen-based singer/songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist and creative mastermind behind the rising indie pop project School of X, which finds Littauer stepping out into the limelight as a solo artist after years as a touring drummer.

lishment, experimental art school, which featured Andy Warhol collaborator Jørgen Leth, art historian Troels Anderson and artists Soul Genres and Per Kirkeby. “It was about learning from each other and being progressive,” Littauer explains. “There were no labels — anyone could join. That philosophy is so cool and I really admire all those artists.”

Unsurprisingly, Littauer created a collective with a similar ethos: Over the past decade, Littauer has worked with the likes of Liss, MØ, Clairo, Deb Never as a producer, songwriter or musician. And with School of X, Littauer has collaborated with Half Waif’s and Empress Of’s Spencer Zahn, Hinds’ Anna Perrote, Lord Siva and Soleima. Littauer runs a studio in Copenhagen’s Nørrebro District with friend, collaborator and fellow producer Vera. The rising Copenhagen-based singer/songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist also hangs in the same circles as Yangze, Vasco and Liss.

ophomore album Dancing Through The Void is slated for a September 24, 2021 release through Tambourhinoceros Records. And as the Copenhagen-based artist explains in press notes, the album is “an ode to live and be exactly who you are no matter the noise that surrounds you.” Dancing Through The Void’s latest single “Feel Of It” is a breezy pop song centered around angular guitar blasts, thumping beats, a propulsive bass line, Littauer’s plaintive vocals and a rousingly anthemic, sing-a-long friendly hook — and this is before we hear the expressive Rhodes solo! And while revealing a songwriter, who can craft earnest yet arena rock-like material, the song as Littauer explains in press notes is “about the desire to break out of daily routines and boredom, craving for headspace, excitement and bigger emotions. It’s a desire that seduces me and haunts me and sometimes comes with a cost, Sometimes you end up alone because you’ve been blinded by the light.”
Directed by Isaac Production’s SIf Lina, the recently released video for “Feel Of It” follows a shirt and tie wearing Littaeur as he’s chased by a man engulfed in flames. Initially, we see Littauer running for his life with a look of complete and thorough, piss-your-pants terror; but as the video progresses, he seems to embrace the chase and the oddness his immediate situation with a wry “oh-what-the-hell” smirk.

“The idea for the video was to do something really precise and conceptual with strong symbolism: the fire hunting the man.” says Littauer. “It symbolizes all these emotions and temptations that you struggle with, and how they either push you ahead or bring you down.”