We’ve featured a few artists already who’ve released tracks written and produced in the midst of lockdown, and I have a feeling that the next 12 months will see the release of a lot more. Danish songwriter Ida Wenøe’s experience of lockdown has been a little different, however, in that she’s found the isolation and conditions to be a restriction on her creative freedom, and therefore writing songs has simply been more difficult than she’s experienced previously.
Or maybe, to state the obvious, we simply haven’t heard yet from all those artists experiencing a similar block, because they don’t tend to send us Press Releases about it.
Anyway new material from Ida is always welcome, her 2019 album ‘The Things We Don’t Know Yet’ was one of my personal favourites of last year, and new track ‘One Step’ takes us straight back into the Ida Wenøe comfort zone. Melodically it may take a while until it really opens up in the latter sections, but it has a wistful charm, and the accompanying instrumentals are particularly attractive.
It’s based around the themes explored in Dostoevsky’s acclaimed if slightly wayward novel ‘The Idiot’, which considers that having and knowing ‘less’ can lead to the gift of innocence, freedom and happiness.
Ida has explained more about the creative process behind the track – or maybe, the lack of creative process.
“When the world shut down, my mind shut down. Free time to be creative? Not so much. I pushed and pushed but desperation almost took me over the edge. In the end I found this song after many attempts, like a hidden gem that would only show its face when I'd been so close to giving up.”
Well it was worth the struggle, it took a few listens too but it’s a really engaging and thoughtful song.
Take a listen here.
The track was mixed by Tucker Martine (First Aid Kit, Sufjan Stevens, Neko Case, Bill Frisell) in Portland, Oregon and mastered by Dave McNair. It’s been released through the excellent Integrity Records.