We’ve had a few start-up artists recently, who are essentially who we’re here to promote. But that doesn’t mean we turn a deaf ear to those that are a little longer in the tooth.
In 2022 Mike Andersen received two Danish Music Awards for ‘Best Danish Release’ and ‘Live Performer of the Year,’ cementing his position as one of Denmark’s most compelling musicians.
He sounds like he could be that bloke you met in the pub last week, and has been around long enough that he’s on the verge of releasing his 10th studio album. Before that comes this single, ‘Only for you’.
He says the album will feature both larger productions and intimate songs stripped down to an acoustic solo format and I’m presuming this is one of the latter.
He adds that the single is about the courage that it takes to ‘open up’ in a new relationship, to reveal your true self while at the same time worrying about who you are sharing those details with. Is it merely the person in front of you – or their sister, brother, closest friends, perhaps their ex (or yours), not to mention the cat and that parrot with the remarkable memory and the outstanding knowledge of Danish?
There’s room under his skin “only for you” but he’s prepared to take you to a place where he risks losing face, because he knows he needs to, if he wants to keep you.
The wall he’s built around himself seems to be crumbling though and he isn’t certain what it will let in.
The dexterous lyrics are well conceived and delivered effortlessly to a simple tune on an acoustic guitar. Nothing more is required.
At heart he’s a storyteller and we like those at NMC.
And the professionalism with which the Nordics, especially the Danes and Swedes, can supply these blues influenced Americana/Nordicana creations never ceases to amaze me. We have no-one who comes anywhere near it in the UK.
Play this to someone down Nashville way and they’d swear he’s a local boy made good at the CMA Awards. Or to someone in Memphis, at the BMA.
If he can do this with stripped down acoustic songs what are the big productions going to be like? We could have a male Angel Olsen on our hands.
‘Only for you’ was produced, recorded, and mixed by Danish-Korean producer and artist Christian Ki, and the black-and-white animated music video comes courtesy of the Danish multidisciplinary artist Frederik Tygesen.
It’s similar in some arcane ways to last night’s horror show from The Below but much gentler, which I’m sure you’ll appreciate as you continue your recovery from that one.
At present Mike is in the early stages of a lengthy tour of Denmark that takes him through to late May. See his social pages for details.
Find him on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MikeAndersenArtistPage
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikeandersendk/
