release date: Apr. 2, 1997
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,78]
producer: Kim Hyttel
label: Exlibris - nationality: Denmark
Track highlights: 1. "Det er ikke en ørken" (4 / 5) - 2. "Sommerferie Zimmerroom" (4 / 5) - 3. "Jack Kerouac i Jylland" - 4. "Alting sker" (4 / 5) - 5. "På et køligt loft" (4 / 5) - 9. "På Svebølle Station"
Studio debut album by the Danish duo Olesen-Olesen consisting of the two brothers, eldest brother Peter (Hollerup) Olesen [born 1962] as vocalist and primary songwriter, and younger brother Henrik (Hollerup) Olesen [born 1965] on guitars, backing vocals, other instrumentation, and as primrary composer. The album is released on the small independent label Exlibris and produced by long-time producer Kim Hyttel, who was also engaged on the album Minor Sun (1996) - the final album by the Danish band, Greene, also featuring the brothers Olesen. The brothers have played together in various bands, most recently in the Danish indie pop and post-punk band Greene. This is their first album featuring songs only in Danish, and it also marks a considerable change of style. Even earlier, the two fronted the band Sort-Hvide Landskaber - a band playing primarily gothic rock and post-punk with a clear reference to Joy Division, and with Greene they continued in a stronger indie pop-shaped version of post-punk, mostly inspired by The Sound.
On Indenlands udenbys they have extended their stylistic universe to embrace folk rock, jangle pop, chamber pop, and indie pop within a singer / songwriter context driven by the lyrics of primarily Peter Olesen.
I recall when the album was released, and being a fan of Greene, I was not entirely convinced about the positive aspects to their new-found musical output, but as they stayed true to this formula on later albums, and I became accustomed to it, I do consider this album among my favourites of 1997. The style is not just copied from international artists, although, I find references to R.E.M., 10.000 Maniacs, Adrian Borland, Lloyd Cole, Tindersticks, Grant Lee Buffalo, American Music Club, and older folk rock artists like Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, and Leonard Cohen, but again: this is their own unique blend, which makes it more than just interesting. Furthermore, the album doesn't even seem dated but it has aged much like a good wine.
[ Gaffa.dk 3 / 6 stars ]
