The last time The Victim (Kenneth Nefling) paid us a visit, last year, it was with the title track taken from his debut album, ‘Heartaches & Lows’, a piece that started off like one of Anohni and the Johnson’s and which ended eight and a half minutes later rocking out like ‘November Rain 2.0’.
Six months on, The Victim returns with a fresh single and a precursor, ‘This Town’, to another album, ‘Homebound’, which will be available on 5th March.
The Victim always seems to hit the mark with me; this time out his subject is small-town life and the places where dreams are slowly worn down by everyday routines as if they were born to fade away. Tell me about it.
“The stars don’t shine/they just creep/over the town that goes to sleep”.
250,000 people isn’t exactly small I suppose – in fact it would be the third largest city in Denmark – but mine thinks small, fearing to challenge the ‘big city’ and its bright lights just down the road and merely ends up parodying itself.
It isn’t a case of a town that “goes to sleep” as much as one that is in an induced coma.
A local comedian, John Cooper Clarke, hit the nail on the head when he said he thought the town’s motto, proudly displayed on the side of garbage collection wagons and highway repair vans, should be ‘Going forwards – in reverse.’
So I understand just how The Victim feels about these places. We share the victimhood fraternity, bro.
His premise, and message, though is not so bleak. It is that in these empty streets, with their frayed lives trapped within a community marked by silence, resignation and muted hope, there is mileage to be gained not by physically acquiring any – instead one should stay put, be stoical, and be thankful for one’s lot.
The grass ain’t always greener and it could be worse after all. It could be Tingberg. Or Trigeparken. (Only joking…blame AI)
More seriously, it has a flavour of Arcade Fire’s Grammy-winning ‘The Suburbs’ about it. There are, as he says, places – and people – you can’t simply leave behind even if by staying put dreams feel dangerous because they hurt the most when they never come true.
Musically, it has a strong whiff of America about it too, if not exactly Americana per se and I suspect it might have been recorded with the US market in mind, what with the likes of Petty and The Boss shining through the arrangement. As evidence I offer the line“Walking the railroad tracks” – does anyone do that in Roskilde, or Esbjerg?
We are informed that on the album ‘Homebound’ The Victim turns his gaze inward — and at the same time toward home, as it says on the tin. He’s sittin’ in a railway station, with a ticket for his destination.
It will be about getting lost, about running away, and about then slowly realising that home is not always a place, but a state one must earn.
Now here’s a thing. In addition to him already having taken full control of recording and production, the album marks the beginning of a new chapter, as The Victim has consciously chosen to part ways with streaming site Spotify (although his previous work is still on there right now). So this single, as well as the album, is available via Bandcamp, linked here, and a small number of other channels I am not yet aware of.
The work will exist “on platforms that align with the artist’s values.”
From a distance I have mixed thoughts about that. I know many musos dislike Spotify and I understand their reasons. In this instance he has taken a moral stance.
Equally, Bandcamp has a reputation for being one of the fairer sites in the way it does business.
At the same time I can’t help but think it might be a way of cutting off your nose to spite your face.
We shall see. We wish him luck – a committed, thoughtful and adventurous artist.
And here’s another thing. Fans of The Victim will be able to access ‘Homebound’ via Bandcamp on the same day that ‘This Town’ is released, as an invitation to experience the album in full and support the music on the artist’s own terms.
So here we are:
https://thevictimdk.bandcamp.com/album/homebound
Find him on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thevictimofdenmark
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevictim_official/
