And you thought the Faroe Islands was an isolated place populated by ultra Conservative God-fearing folk wearing thick woollen sweaters. Think again. It is also home to bisexual veganpunks, Joe and the Shitboys and at least was at one time to the self-styled ‘alt pop/ mom-goth/ soft grunge’ Brimheim until she decamped to Copenhagen and later to Malmö in Sweden, which if anything is even stranger. A ‘goth soccer mommy’ - is that what it means or do I have to bone up fast on popular culture?
And her website Home Page is the oddest you’ll see, even a little creepy at first sight. Check it out for yourself. The Addams Family meets The Amityville Horror.
But she won me over, big style. It started in the opening bars with an attention grabbing clear contralto vocal which is so Florence Welsh while being a cut above it in substance. There is real quality here, especially around the higher notes, and I don’t think she’s had any production assistance.
A little research tells me she spent three years at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus but you don’t learn how to sing so emotionally in the classroom; she’s just got it.
I also read she’s had some mental issues like another Dane, Annsofie Salomon, who we featured a week or so ago, and suffered some depression and “trauma” to boot and that comes across in the angst in her voice.
Lyrically, she is very astute, invoking imagery of cop sirens on Fifth Avenue while she lies in bed fretting about what her partner’s out of town mother would think if she found her wrapped around her daughter. But ultimately, in the most telling and hard-hitting line, “You and I will not be broken by your mother’s broken heart.”
Musically, she brings together a swathe of instrumentation which is both ethereal and uplifting as the song climbs slowly towards an anxious climax but never quite gets there. Make what you will of that.
I will be very surprised if this song doesn’t get UK airplay; it most certainly deserves it.
To paraphrase her message, you can call it what you want, but I love it.
‘Call it what you want’ is released today, Friday 2nd April.
Photo by ‘Hey Jack’.