Pernille Karlsen is the artist behind Penny Flows, originally from the small town of Hadsund in northern Denmark and now based in Aarhus.
She came into the music world by accident rather than design. She was indeed a designer, working in the bright lights of New York when she travelled to Costa Rica where she had the life changing accident while surfing that prompted the writing of the title track to her six-track EP ‘Under Water’, during which she became trapped beneath the waves and believed she was going to die.
And that experience also became a metaphor for another deeply personal struggle: a sexual assault she had kept largely out of the public eye for more than a decade.
She hasn’t had it easy to say the least and another track on the EP deals with a personal loss, collectively prompting her to “pick up a ukulele and begin writing the songs that now form the heart of my music,” to find her own voice, cast aside perfectionism, self-doubt, and external expectations, and literally to redesign her life.
She says she offers experiences that heal, inspire, and connect; turning vulnerability into shared strength.
Well Penny’s song titles are upbeat for sure, embracing such as ‘Shine’, ‘On my way’ and ‘It all will be okay’. No negativity there. Onwards and upwards.
And surprisingly a song about being submerged beneath an ocean and thinking you’ve drawn your last breath is, too. Musically, it plays like the relaxing folk ballad you might hear coming from the beach bar before you take your plunge into the unknown.
Lyrically, it acts as a metaphor for the other troubling things that have afflicted her:
“Under water/I learned to see
All the strength I keep/Inside of me
I survived when/I couldn’t breathe
My power broke the chains/Now I’m free”.
There’s a message there for everyone in those simple lyrics. And as Penny says, she hopes her music can help others feel less alone and encourage conversations about experiences too often kept in silence.
Vocally, well to be brutally honest Penny doesn’t quite shine there yet. I’m no vocal coach but I’m sure the song would have sounded better with merely a slight variation in tone from time to time rather than the rather bland monotone presentation here. Like Joni Mitchell does.
But there’s plenty of time for that yet.
Find her on:
Website: https://pennyflows.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itspennyflows
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pennyflows
