Pot pourri Danish style 21st October – tracks from Slagger Lund (a video premiere) and Rasmus Oppenhagen Krogh

We’re back on the potpourri trail again with a host of artists as the number of releases reaches a crescendo, and with a focus tonight on Denmark.

You can’t keep a good man down and first off here is Denmark’s Slagger Lund, returning to NMC andgiving new life to the first song he ever wrote, ‘Morgengry (gentaget & ny)’, which translates in Mr Google’s opinion as ‘Dawn (Repeat & New)’, and which might thus be an alternative title for Groundhog Day. When they remake it Slagger’s song should be playing on the radio when Bill Murray wakes up in the hotel instead of ‘I got you babe’.

He says it emanated “from the chambers of a dark teenage room and originally was written in “emo-English”, inspired by bands as The Cure and Joy Division (well they definitely emo-d), as well as being the first song he wrote in Danish.

It’s a song about anxiety, shame and hope, he says, a song about getting up again every time you are knocked down, a subject Chumbawamba had something to say about of course. A song that makes hardcore types weep. A song for churches and bars, for creeps and lovers.

Well that covers just about everybody, Slagger.

Musically there’s a richer guitar sound than I experienced with his earlier songs and it works well with the emo effect, and the melody is just so.

You don’t have to understand Danish to appreciate Slagger (although I did pick up “are you okay?” – I must have watched far too many Scandi-Noir TV crime dramas, because no-one is okay in those, especially the cops); he never fails to create the appropriate atmosphere both with his music and his melancholic vocal delivery. Simpatico, or perhaps Espressivo as they say in Italy, just like his artwork for the song.

Don’t ask me what is going on in this promotional video, which we are premiering tonight. I don’t know; it’s so Danish. Early on he looks like Uncle Albert from Only Fools and Horses, pottering about in the woods before he morphs into Slagger Robin, who looks lost without Batman, and then back to Uncle Albert.

It must mean something but who knows quite what goes on in Slagger’s fertile mind.

‘Morgengry (gentaget & ny)’ is out on 4^th November on streaming services.

8/10

Speaking of Scandi-Noir, here is a new piece of work from Danish guitarist/composer Rasmus Oppenhagen Krogh who proudly presents his third album, ‘Until Then’, released on October 20^th.

I’d hoped to run the rule over the full album but time was against me so I’ve only been able to feature a sample track.

‘Until Then’ is being promoted as dark, spacious, and meditative. Created in collaboration with Danish producer, drummer and sound designer Rasmus Juncker, the album’s 10 tracks are “a sonic exploration of the coming together of jazz musicianship and contemporary pop/rock production techniques.”

Any interaction between jazz and rock intrigues me, which is why I’m a follower of bands such as Aadal and Eberson from Norway amongst others and I’m hearing ever more of this type of stylistic collaboration emerging from the Nordics.

‘Until then’ is a 10-track album and I selected the title track for your delectation. It starts out with a double bass solo that acts as the perfect introduction to a mélange of guitar and intricate percussion, out of which the brushwork stands out notably.

Rasmus foments meditation in a different way to his compatriot Slagger with his downbeat approach and sorrowful musicality and lyricism. But it has the same effect in that it transports you into his particular world with ease.

The acid test of any instrumental to me is if it invokes the title and ‘Until then’ does just that. It could be a weepy goodbye to family or a loved one, the end of a ‘ships that pass in the night’ relationship or just a parting, brief adieu amongst friends, according to your mood.

High quality easy listening and that applies to the entire album.

8/10

Find them on:

(Slagger Lund)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/slaggerlund