Always good to hear from Slagger Lund, Denmark’s answer to Billy Bragg and John Cooper Clarke rolled into one and with a new single that delves deeply into local politics and psychology all at the same time.
And this time there’s an A-side and a B-side to the single. Ah, the good old days are back.
Slagger likes to reference people that I assume are heroes to him. A few years ago the subject was Danish footballing legend Brian Laudrup, possibly the first song I heard from the embryonic talent.
The A-side is titled ‘Bruce Lee tries to get MitID’ and that needs explaining. It’s nothing to do with drugs or a disease. MitID is Denmark’s national digital ID system, something that Herr Starmer and others in the Führerbunker over here want to introduce in the UK, and is widely in use in the public administration over there.
It’s been around for quite some time now; its predecessor was invented over 25 years ago. So I guess it has become accepted. But why would Bruce Lee – a childhood hero of Slagger’s – even want to get hold of such a card? Since he was a Hong Kong citizen and died in 1973?
Heaven knows, and as is sometimes the case with Slagger it appears to be a metaphor for something else entirely and something sociologically big, namely alienation in this instance.
As he says, “…of being hooked by a system that feels a little too smart, a little too efficient. Of being misunderstood when you don’t act as expected. Like suddenly not being able to speak and understand the language that the system speaks. To seek escape in the forest, the ‘natural’ and the infantile in order to be understood. And in order not to go crazy.”
Boy, tell me about it Slagger, and all this is pre-AI too, I guess. What little delights await us all when that gets it teeth into the system? Bruce would need complete mastery of every martial art – judo, karate, Kung Fu, Muay Thai, taekwondo, kickboxing, origami (I’m quite gifted at that one, a black belt even) just to stay on his feet.
And he manages to put it across in that slightly silly, jolly style that he has perfected. Or at least that’s Slagger’s own view of it.
I’m not so sure. There’s a deep melancholy here which isn’t lost in the catchy melody. You can almost imagine a despondent Bruce trudging away from the MitID office clutching a piece of paper which reads ‘Computer says No’.
The song features guest appearances by Roxy Jules, who describes herself as “(the) kinda love child of PJ Harvey, Mazzy Star and The Kills.” There’s an interesting one for the biologists to study.
(Continues after the Spotify link).
The B-side, ‘St. Thomas (Hæng ud med mig herfra)’ is, Slagger says, a celebration song (and more) of the late Norwegian singer-songwriter and alt-country legend, St. Thomas, who is dating St. Vincent, I hear on the grapevine. It’s more like what I think of as Slagger’s traditional style.
(Continues after the Spotify link).
Both songs act as a precursor to Slagger Lund’s third album ‘Noias Ark’, which will be released on September 24th, 2026, on vinyl, CD and streaming platforms.
Now here’s something I didn’t know. Last year he published his debut novel ‘En 80 meter Bjørn’ and earlier this year he received the Dan Turèll Medal for it (a Danish cultural prize established in 1994. It is awarded to writers, artists, and cultural figures who work in the spirit of the iconic Danish author, “Uncle” Dan Turèll.)
The citation reads, “author, songwriter and visual artist Slagger Lund belongs to this category (of “innovators from unexpected places”), who with his debut novel has translated experiences from a series of admissions to a psychiatric hospital in Aarhus into a linguistic powerhouse of observations and insights. In the novel’s diary entries, where humour and pain merge in a fragmentary narrative, the reader encounters a universe that is unknown to most, but which is presented here with tenderness, empathy, and humanity that dissolves the usual boundaries between madness and normality.”
Slagger never ceases to surprise me. He’s like the Lieutenant Colombo of the Danish arts scene. By that I don’t mean that he drives an ancient Peugeot car, wears a tacky worn-out raincoat, has a dog called ‘Dog’, is hopelessly forgetful and uses catchphrases like “Just one more thing, sir…”
No, I mean that for someone who paints a picture of himself as just another bloke from Aarhus, ambling down to the pub every night, and making his way in the world as best he can, he has an armada, a battery, a legion of hidden talents.
Find him on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/slaggerlund
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slagger_lund/
