Vince Chinaski (Denmark) – We can (single/possible future album track)

A welcome return for Vince Chinaski, the Danish-Italian who was last with us almost 18 months ago now with the title track from his debut album.

Vince is a philosopher through and through and it’s always a joy to listen to which human trait he is putting under the microscope this time.

Funnily enough I only just reviewed the latest Arcade Fire single in our Weekend Intermission series and this most recent one of Vince’s, ‘We can’, carries the sort of title I would associate with that band – introspective and moody but carrying a torch for someone or something, wrapped up in an almighty anthem (think of the anti-war, anti-church ‘Intervention’ for example).

That ‘something’ here is the power of collective action; the people’s revolution; the demonstration of unity; all commendable but all too often invisible.

He says, “… at times it seems we forgot that we are all in it together. Some reckless and polarising characters strive to lead us into an era of “strong one-man commanders” (I wonder who he could possibly mean?) and try to convince us that we are one against the other. I believe that, despite its challenges, a healthy, egalitarian Democracy is the only way forward to a brighter future for all of us. We can no longer afford to take it for granted though. It’s under attack and we need to gather together, participate and defend it, making it stronger and better in the process…”

I can’t think offhand of a paragraph that better describes the state of the UK right now, where a democratically elected government is going out of its way to behave like a dictatorship and don’t you dare question it. I might just send this song to my MP, though I would possibly be jailed for doing that.

Just as an aside there are several lines in the song that are unequivocally and quintessentially ‘English’ and actually made me smile, such as:

“You say we’re made of steel” (our last steel furnace – owned by the Chinese – was being run into the ground until the government took it over on Saturday but probably too late because it requires coking coal to fire it up and we haven’t got any left – we closed all down the mines!)

“We can unmake all kings” (the reputation of the UK Monarchy, led by Davos and WEF worshipping King Charles, who rabbits on about climate change and then has his gas guzzling Bentley (no relation) shipped out to Rome while he visits the Pope [and while he travels by private jet] is at an all-time low).

Separately,

“And we can, and we can, even stop a war that never ends” (that one I have to disagree with, the Donald has tried and has been an abject failure).

It’s a protest song but not as we know it, Captain. “We are never going under” could be a line from The Strawbs’ ‘Part of the Union’ or a cry by distressed Manchester United fans.

It’s the sort of piece that you can imagine thousands gathering to sing in unison then slowly dispersing, under the watchful gaze of Big Brother, who knows that the same people will reconvene shortly for the two minute’s hate of everything they have just been protesting in favour of.

I don’t know if Vince wrote this song from the heart (I do suspect that he did) or if it is intended to be ironic, just as ‘Part of the Union’ was. I venture it could be read either way.

Musically, it is offered in the style of a 1970’s protest song with a decisive guitar riff straight from the off, enlivened by Vince’s traditional vocal delivery which I just realised is not too dissimilar from that of Slagger Lund, another Danish character operating at the far end of the spectrum, well away from the mediocre register.

I wouldn’t class Vince as being quite in the same drawer as Dylan, Bragg, Seeger, Waits et al, never mind Joe Hill, at least just yet.

But he has the stylistic panache to make that leap, and soon.

Three more singles and a full-length album will follow later in 2025.

Find him on:

Website: https://vincechinaski.com/