New Sounds from Denmark: Harmony - Vinnie Who

After months and months of waiting, it's finally here! Yes, the third album from the wonderful Vinnie Who was released today, March 30th, and what a wonderful album it is. When 'Seven', the first single from 'Harmony' was released back at the end of 2014 I sincerely hoped the rest of the album would stand up to it's brilliance and it wouldn't be the only decent track. It was a fear I had until the second single 'Only Dreaming' was released a few weeks ago, but of course, it was equally as strong as the first single and my fears were diminished. The two singles rapidly became part of my repeat playlist, and the amount of times I've listened to them over the past few weeks is probably ridiculous, but they're just so good it's hard to not get hooked on them.

'Harmony' has a very different sound to the first two albums and I would go as far to say that this is probably the best of the three. It has a overall more sophisticated sound, with more melodic segments and well, more harmonies. It's hard to describe the sound without using a million adjectives, but if 'Then I Met You' is the album for the party, 'Harmony' is the album for the morning after. It's smooth, comforting, and drenched in sunlight. It also manages to have a glorious cinematic quality that I really can't describe. It sounds like when you're awake at four o'clock in the morning in the summer and the sun's just beginning to rise, or when the sun's just beginning to set and you're sat in a garden with your friends drinking a beverage that makes you feel all fuzzy and warm inside. It sounds like warmth and happiness. Especially 'Funtime', the fourth track. The whole album has quite a calming quality to it as well, even the more up-tempo 'Only Dreaming' has the power to send me into such a relaxed state that I could probably fall asleep in the right conditions. Not in a bad way, you understand. If I were to name my least favourite track, it would probably be 'Swimming', not because of any faults in the musicianship, it's a perfectly fine song, but just not my thing really. Maybe it's because I can't swim - I don't know. However, at a mere three minutes and nine seconds, making it the shortest track on the album, it doesn't do much to hinder my enjoyment of the other songs.

Unsurprisingly I give 'Harmony'  a solid 10/10 in every category. Would I give it album of the year status? Quite possibly yes, but as we're only three months in it's hard to say what the next nine months will bring. We've already seen very strong works from Sleater-Kinney and Pond, making 2015 an incredibly good year for music. With a new Blur album on the horizon, and a new Suede offering in the works, I have high hopes for the rest of the year. Whether 'Harmony' will stand up to them is a question I'm not willing to ask. I sincerely hope it does though, and I urge everyone to listen to it as soon as possible. I also hope the album gets the recognition it deserves outside of Denmark, and I would really love to see a gig in the UK at some point...*hint hint*.

'Harmony' is released on Fake Diamond Records and is available to listen to on Spotify, purchase in iTunes, and on CD in all Tiger stores worldwide. The vinyl will be available in Tiger stores from April 17th. 

New Sounds from Denmark: Seven - Vinnie Who

Now I know what you're all thinking, and yes this is yet another post about wonderful Scandinavian music. Once again I have travelled to Denmark in search of cool new tunes, and boy have I struck gold. This however was almost completely by accident, and with all new/old discovery posts - there's a story to go with it:

Sunday night - November 9th. A seemingly normal evening until I logged onto Facebook to discover a new post from Soundvenue (which is safe to say served as my bible back in 2010) with a link to the new single from Denmark's Vinnie Who (aka Niels Bagge Hansen). What followed was 3 minutes and 31 seconds of pure dreamy bliss that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but also reminded me of lazy summer evenings and that feeling you get when you've had a couple of glasses of wine and become very affectionate towards everything. With vocals that I can only describe as creamy and a beautiful melody that almost sends you to sleep (but in a good way), 'Seven' is fast becoming my favourite single of the year and is a sharp contrast to the more pop-py, disco synth-y sounds that can be heard on his first album. It's a welcome change. Of course, not to say I don't love the likes of 'Remedy' et al. but sometimes it's nice to have something softer to listen to, y'know?

'Seven', I believe, is the first single from the third Vinnie Who album, due out in early 2015, and if it's anything like that, I can't wait. Of course, as with all good things those of us who live outside of Denmark and continental Europe will probably have to wait 6 months or so to be able to listen to it - let alone buy a physical copy. However, I have high hopes and I'm sure it'll be fantastic. For those of you who want a slice of the action right now, 'Seven' is available to listen to on soundcloud via the Soundvenue website and will be available to purchase worldwide from Friday 14th November. Enjoy.