Returning to the recording studio after a lengthy absence is Denmark’s Carsten Bojsen with a single, ‘Sand and Glue’ the first from a six-track EP, ‘Ruin Beauty’ which is due for release on 15th May.
Carsten is one of a gaggle of up and coming young artists in Denmark that deserve a close hearing. He was a mere slip of a lad at 65 when he made his solo debut – but he has been a musician since 1985 – with a couple of singles that we featured last year and the EP ‘OESTBIRK’ in the winter/spring of 2025.
The Ralph McTell-like single ‘I have seen the Light’, one that we immediately latched onto, has been now been played in 64 countries.
‘Sand and Glue’ was, he says, written after an argument, a raw time to write anything and circumstances that have fostered both the best and the worst in songwriters, from Fiona Apple’s immense, almost frightening ‘Regret’ at one end of the scale to Mae Muller’s lamentable UK Eurovision entry in 2023, ‘I wrote a song’.
But Carsten Bojsen, with the wisdom of age, isn’t the type to let his emotions run out of hand, and especially now with a first grandchild on the way. In any case his songs are written in an attempt to understand, feel, and improve the life he is living, not ruin it (and that makes me wonder what the ethos of ‘Ruin Beauty’ will be.
The song title is intriguing because sand and glue can actually bond well with a Loctite-like superglue paste effect whereas I initially thought he was singing about two entities that were in total contrast to each other.
But as it turns out it is that very paste that is the problem. He seeks reconciliation but the words get stuck and just won’t come out.
No point in sending him to talk to Trump then, which is a pity because Carsten does have a way with words, if only he could get them out.
The track features an omnichord, one of the easiest instruments to play and which is perfectly suited to what is meant to be a simple song about what can become complex human interactions and also helps create the ‘live’ feeling he and the other musicians, Nikolai Heyman (also the producer) and Michael Lund, sought.
In the studio they used one-takes, no click track or autotune. Heaven.
It is the first of three singles to be released this winter in advance of the EP and there will be a tour later in the year.
The recording was supported by a grant from Koda (Denmark’s collective management organisation for music copyrights)
Find him/them on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carsten.bojsen
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carstenbojsen/
