I decided, on the hoof, to reintroduce the ‘Pot Pourri’ section of quick fire reviews after realising that there are close to 40 outstanding right now! Of course we can’t get through all of them but here is a couple to be going on with.
Rick Kingo (Denmark) (ft. Cherry Fez) – In our solitude (single)
Rick Kingo is well known from the Danish band Caper Clowns, which I should have seen playing in the UK last May but got distracted by a discussion with fellow Danes Mansfield, who were also on the bill.
Rick is currently living in Vancouver, Canada but intends to return to Denmark shortly. His latest release is a rock ballad ‘In our solitude’, together with the American Todd Shuster aka Cherry Fez on backing vocals, guitars and keys, Christian Højgaard, the bass player in Caper Clowns, and Lucas Garbellini, a drummer from Sao Paulo, Brazil in and bongos courtesy of Finn Madsen in what is billed as “an international band project.” The first two in that list were also co-writers.
He said he hoped it would peak my interest and it certainly did that.
The song is credited with being recorded in Denmark, the US, and Brazil, and then mixed and mastered in a small town in Southern Denmark, in the studio Ferritslev Arrest.
It is dominated by simple, powerful piano chords from the off, which have a distinctly Beatles-like feel to them while at the same time teasing a comparison with ‘Bridge over troubled water , then later acquiring a similar pounding insistence to that of Thunderclap Newman’s ‘Something in the air’.
The song suggests to me the pointlessness of human isolation when its resolution is not that difficult.
It’s pleasing on the ear, tuneful, and ever so slightly anthemic while Rick’s plaintive vocal sucks you in to dilemma.
It might have benefitted from a more differentiated bridge but its absence is no big deal.
Find him on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61564433561601
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rick_kingo/
Nordic Sad (Sweden) – The King (single)
We’re late with this one but I had to brace myself to listen to Nordic Sad’s latest single, ‘The King’ after the debacle of their previous one ‘Here to survive’, which was one of the most depressing things I’ve heard in the first half but which then “morphed into an anthem of positivity” and blew me away in the second half.
There is at least greater consistency in this story of, well, no-one knows for sure and singer Victor Hanning takes the line that “‘The King’ was written in a sleepless dream as a reflection of our heritage in the evolution of the universe”, whatever that means.
It’s a peculiar mix of 1980s electro-pop (think especially of The Pet Shop Boys and Erasure), Death Metal and 1970s theatrical prog rock, with early days Genesis easily coming to mind in the vocal delivery and the overall structure.
And on top of that it gets underway with the variety of spectral sounds that might convince you that you’re listening to Henge.
You can’t get more varied than that.
When they get around to putting a full album together it could well turn out to be an event.
The King was released through Så Länge Skutan Kan Gå Records and is available on all streaming services.
Nordic Sad is:
Victor Hanning
Ola Wirling
Paulina Rydnemalm
Leo Zethraeus
Hanna Söderqvist
Andy Yeo.
Find them on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nordicsads
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nordic.sad/
