I don’t think we’ve ever had a song with a smoky New Orleans flavour to it, something that has jumped out of a bar somewhere on Bourbon Street and straight onto streaming services piped directly into your living room.
The artist is Esben Just, trading here as Esben Just Allstars as he records with his band. He is actually New York born (Brooklyn to be precise) although he has lived in Copenhagen for some time.
I’m reminded that Billy Joel hails from that part of the world, too, actually The Bronx and Long Island and Joel is one of the characters I immediately associated with Esben for his jazzy free flowing piano style and casual vocal delivery (think of ‘Piano Man’ for example).
He’s a prolific writer who has written widely about a whole host of subjects including having too little sex (tell me about it, I’m the Global Spokesperson) – or too much of it (chance would be a fine thing) – to hoping for peace in a chaotic world (fat chance of that), escaping the everyday grind (ditto), and the importance of slowing down rather than chasing things that ultimately don’t matter.
Latterly, Esben has chosen to explore the subject of faith; not religious faith but the faith we have in ourselves and in the life we lead, although as he sings (naturally) in Danish and there’s no accessible lyric sheet he might be singing the classified football results for all I know.
What he does though, big style, is create an atmosphere. As the nights draw in there is nothing better than transporting yourself in your own mind, to a sweaty, dingy club somewhere to hear Esben’s grizzly yet dulcet tones and those twinkling fingers.
I defy you to keep your feet still as Esben gets into his own personal groove here, backed by a gospel choir.
The highlighted track here is ‘Djævlen i ro’ (‘Keeping the Devil at Bay’) and the other single on the release is ‘Ta’nu bare hva’ du vil ha’, which translates as ‘Just take what you want’.
(Continues after the Spotify links).
Find him on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579244555860
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/esben.just/
