EFTERKLANG
Share new video “Hold Me Close When You Can”
Made in collaboration with fans via the Efterklang Developed platform
Efterklang Developed event #2 starts on Wednesday
Album ‘Windflowers’ out October 8th on City Slang
UK, European and North American tour dates
Efterklang have shared a glimpse at their forthcoming album, ‘Windflowers’, which is set for release on October 8th through City Slang.
‘Hold Me Close When You Can’ was first released through Efterklang’s Developed platform in May 2021 as the first in a series of collaborative events – the second starts this Wednesday, September 22nd. For 5 days fans and friends were invited to collaborate by responding to the song using their eyes and cameras while listening to the song. In total more than 800 people from 49 different countries co-created this video by taking photos while listening to the song. All these photos now form the music video for ‘Hold Me Close When You Can’. The photos have been put together to the music by editor Matt Felstead and the director credit is shared by all contributors.
Commenting on the video, the band said: “Efterklang Developed and the video for “Hold Me Close When You Can” is not about presenting our music in the most impressive and flashy way, it is about collaborating. It’s something we realise has become centre of how we operate as a band. We want to create together with the listeners and concert attendees and we keep searching for ways of doing this.
After so much distance and time away from everyone who listens to our music it felt great to do something different with the purpose and potential of bringing people closer together. We built a WebApp called Efterklang Developed with Arnold & Michael, who run MARRIAGE in London. In the App you hear a new song for the first time before it’s official release, and at the same time you respond by taking photos, of whatever you want to capture at that moment. So all of the photos are taken by close to 1000 of strangers who all where listening to Hold Me Close When You Can, and now they’ve become the video for that same song. We loved the simplicity and the symmetry of it, and we were excited to see how people interpret the music through their own reality, it was amazing to see what everybody gave to each other.”
“Hold Me Close When You Can” marks a striking moment in the track list of their new album ‘Windflowers’. Casper devised the chords and melody during a radio soundcheck in Brussels in January 2020, where Rasmus immediately heard its potential. The song was saved as a voice note and the band battled with structure and instrumentation in the studio, working with live band member Christian Balvig on the string arrangements, until it all unfolded before them. Beautiful, eloquent, and rousingly sentimental, Casper’s voice is both fragile and full of power. “It’s a really emotional song and it still can get to me” says Mads.
A painstaking and beautiful creation. Built on this tender, if not volatile ambiance cultivated by the resonating keys and the powerful vocal harmonies that carry this array of emotion within their escalating melodies. Efterklang capture such an array of beauty within their ensembles. With their moving new release, personification and intimacy run hand in hand with the use of the new film bringing the audience into the narrative.
Efterklang understands the importance of power and beauty and how to capture the two influences to provide music with meaning. With the new release, the outfit sculpts this ambitious atmosphere that in turn offers this unique vibe that rolls on into the world of all the listeners. The intimate ensemble boasts the most impressive soaring melodic influence bursting with passion, personality, and this essential depth.
This really is a striking and complex creation, building this lasting and rich journey.
Efterklang Developed allows listeners to hear a new song for the first time before its official release, and to respond to it by taking photos while the track plays. “We loved the simplicity and the symmetry of it, and we were excited to see how people interpret the music through their own reality. It was amazing to see what everybody gave to each other,” say Efterklang about the video.
Wednesday, September 22 will mark the start of Event #2. Fans, friends and curious souls are invited by the band to listen to the unreleased album track ‘Alien Arms’ while responding with their cameras until September 29. People are encouraged to sign up here to take part in Event #2 and help create the visual world for the new song. Collaboration and community has always been the compass of Efterklang, and the group keeps looking for new ways to build a meaningful correspondence with their audience, to be inventive and inclusive. “We don’t want to play to people, we want to perform and make music with people,” Rasmus explains.
On their sixth studio album ‘Windflowers’, their first for City Slang, the Danish trio continue a creative journey that’s brought them closer together, even as their lives grow apart. With their ability to bring in guests and session musicians restricted, Efterklang had to challenge their usual creative process and accept their own limitations. The genesis of ‘Windflowers’ was back to basics and became an exercise in putting their vast and dynamic experience to play. Self-producing the record, they reconnected with the playfulness and joy of making music together, embracing their distinct pop sensibilities and creating their finest melodic moments to date. The album finds Casper singing in English again, for the most part. It’s rich and intimate, the sound of three friends finding each other at a time when the world around them felt unstable. The record is about existing, alone, together and in nature. It’s about reconnecting, and letting each other grow.
After all their years together, Mads, Casper and Rasmus share the real intimacy of family. ‘Windflowers’ is proof that connection and community can triumph over adversity, and the result is something truly beautiful
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‘Windflowers’ will be released on October 8th through City Slang. Pre-order it here.
Efterklang live dates:
2021
Oct 14 Malmö, SE – Babel
Oct 16 Gothenburg, SE – Pustervik
Oct 17 Stockholm, SE – Slaktkyrkan
Oct 19 Bergen, NO – Kulturhuset
Oct 20 Oslo, NO – Blå
Oct 22 Helsinki, FI – Kuudes Linja
Oct 23 Tallinn, EE – Kino Sõprus
Oct 24 Cēsis, LV – Cēsis Concert Hall
Oct 25 Vilnius, LT – Kablys + Kultūra
Oct 27 Lodz, PL – Art Kombinat / Monopolis
Oct 28 Wrocław, PL – Concert Hall of Radio Wrocław
Nov 17 Aarhus, DK – Musikhuset Store Sal
Nov 18 Odense, DK – Magasinet
Nov 19 Aalborg, DK – Musikkens Hus
Nov 21 Copenhagen, DK – Operaen
2022
Jan 28 Leeds, UK – Howard Assembly Room
Jan 29 Newcastle, UK – Sage Gateshead
Feb 16 Hamburg, DE – Uebel & Gefahrlich
Feb 17 Nürnberg, DE – Z-Bau
Feb 18 Berlin, DE – Metropol
Feb 19 Prague, CZ – Meet Factory
Feb 21 Vienna, AT – Theater Akzent
Feb 22 Budapest, HU – Akvarium Klub
Feb 23 Ljubljana, SI – Kino Siska
Feb 24 Munich, DE – Strom
Feb 25 Bologna, IT – Locomotiv Club
Feb 26 Zürich, CH – Bogen F
Mar 01 London, UK – EartH
Mar 02 Manchester, UK – Gorilla
Mar 03 Bristol, UK – St. George
Mar 04 Paris, FR – Café de la Danse
Mar 05 Brussels, BE – Orangerie Botanique
Mar 06 Eindhoven, NL – Paterskerk
Mar 08 Amsterdam, NL – Zonnehuis
Mar 09 Cologne, DE – Kulturkirche
Mar 28 – Los Angeles, CA – Lodge Room
Mar 29 – Oakland, CA – The New Parish
Mar 31 – Portland, OR – The Old Church
Apr 1 – Seattle, WA – Crocodile
Apr 2 – Vancouver, BC – Hollywood Theatre
Apr 5 – Chicago, IL – Sleeping Village
Apr 6 – Toronto, ON – The Drake
Apr 7 – Montreal, QC – La Sala Rossa
Apr 8 – Brooklyn, NY – Elsewhere (Zone One)
‘Windflowers’ track list:
1. Alien Arms
2. Beautiful Eclipse
3. Hold Me Close When You Can
4. Lady Of The Rocks
5. Dragonfly
6. Living Other Lives
7. Mindless Center
8. House On A Feather
9. Åbent Sår (Feat. The Field)
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