release date: Oct. 23, 2020
format: digital (11 x File, FLAC)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,72]
producer: Andreas Sommer
label: Temper Records - nationality: Demark
Track highlights: 1. "Min tabte ven" - 2. "True Love" - 3. "Tænker på os to" - 4. "Din bar" - 5. "Biler" - 6. "Venner" - 9. "Et kys er ik nok mer" (4 / 5) - 10. "Vi følger hinanden"
5th studio album by Marie Key following a little more than two years after Giganter (Jul. 2018) sees a welcome back to producer Andreas 'Maskinen' Sommer, who is credited as multi-instrumentalist and also as co-composer of six out of a total of eleven songs. The album also sees a few featuring guests, which include Tim Christensen on guitar (track #2), Christoffer Gregersen on vocals (track #6), and Simon Kvamm on vocals (track #9). The album has primarily been issued as a vinyl only album (also available as digital download) but not in cd format, and it appears to be the first release on Key's own label, Temper Records.
As many releases from 2020 the album has been recorded and produced at a time of uncertainty - with reference to global lockdowns and in that regard it may have been delayed as Key probably were prevented to follow it up with a tour.
Marie Key is a way of showing a more stripped down view on an artist, who has taken the country by storm but also experienced a difficult time after two acclaimed albums, although Giganter was a fine album, it just wasn't welcomed by enthusism nor great reviews. And that tendency may have hit this very album even harder as it hasn't been promoted with much fuss and then it basically appears to have near vanished from any public interest, which is more than really strange. Yes, the song "True Love" was a minor national hit but the album failed to enter top 40 and seems to have come out only to be greatly ignored, which is quite sad because it's a fine album on which Key once more showcases her position as a gifted contemporary songwriter of personal and inner conflicts with an obvious broad appeal and always serving her songs with glimpses of hope, despair, and humour, but also has a purposeful sense for a wider target group. It's both simple narratives and modern poetry on a another level than generic pop without substance. Key simple deserves more listeners but may have found the limitations in singing entirely in Danish when everyone's eyes and ears are on a globalised perfect world that is reflected to us via Insta, Tik-Tok, X - the SoMe-poison.
Definitely recommended.
