D. Henry and Sophia Nohr (Denmark) – Fire in the Hole (single)

One of the hardest acts to follow in the music business is Beyoncé, who just happened to turn up here yesterday with her latest album, in the ‘Weekend Intermission’ section.

I wouldn’t care to be the artist who followed her but to be fair to D. Henry and Sophia Nohr they’ve made a pretty good fist of it.

D. Henry, the English pseudonym of Dan Østerby when he isn’t writing and singing in Danish has visited us before on a couple of occasions, in October of last year when he also duet-ed, with Maja Thora on that occasion, on a song, ‘Anything can happen’, which I described as “Quite delightful” and “easy listening but with purpose.”

And then in January with ‘Who says we can’t’, one that “proves writing catchy numbers is becoming a habit with him.”

His singing partner in crime this time is Sophia (Ziegler) Nohr, a vocal coach and Danish X-Factor contestant.

I’ll be honest, I’m often wary of male/female duos, having been subjected over the years to the likes of Peters and Lee, Elton John and Kiki Dee and Dollar, who at least had the looks. Their songs are often too sugary sweet for me.

No such problem here. The subject matter is finding the courage to enter into a new relationship having been shoehorned out of the previous one and when that applies equally to both parties. Tell me about it. Mucho baggage, comprende? But baggage that has to be overcome all the same.

D.HENRY originated as an introverted and self reflective solo project in the aftermath of a divorce, so he speaks from experience.

These chorus lyrics sum it all up:

”There is a fire in the hole/I have a blind spot in my soul

Yes there’s is a fire in the hole/a documentary untold

I don’t wanna cover up my mistakes/or let them swirl until the day breaks.”

That’s an interesting allusion, isn’t it? A fire in the hole. I’m not quite sure what it means. Perhaps it’s a variation on a ‘fire in the belly’ to find love again.

Whatever it means the song is every bit as delightful as its predecessor. The melody is a subdued one, played mainly on piano and accompanied by a haunting synthesised presence in the background and occasionally it expands out into a slightly more complex one that is similar to the theme in Arcade Fire’s ‘Suburban War’ which of course came from a Grammy-winning album.

You can’t get a better recommendation than that.

And their voices complement each other perfectly.

There’s an international quality about this song, just as there was with the last one. You sense you might hear playing on the radio anywhere across Europe. Hopefully you will.

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