We start our 12 Points journey in 2016 with a potent duo from Denmark and, in doing so, address the foundations on which all music has been built.
The Embla strip away and deconstruct music, peeling and paring away everything unnecessary and reducing it to the primitive forces of one voice and one drum, melody and rhythm. These New Danish Jazz nominees (2015) evoke a naked savagery of pulsating rhythm and expressive vocal that cuts through the air, direct to the bone.
Inspired by drum and song traditions from different original tribes, these Danish improvisers bring the drum-vocal constellation into a modern context, creating a new kind of Savage Pop, forging raw and heartfelt music that relies on the energetic intensity and extroverted output of both musicians. Drummer Frej Lesner coaxes myriad rhythmic and tonal expression from floor toms, knee bells and other assorted percussion to create driving, hypnotic, rhythmic beats which frames Nana Cecilie’s melodies and lyrics. In this explosive sound-world there are no passengers, no hiding, no underplaying, no leaning back, rather, this is a duo that relies on each other; one voice, one drum.
More About this Artist
Brian Virenfeldt Hansen, Musikblogger.dk“There is more to vocal and drum than we expect and know ”