Tonight the long-awaited new album by GB, the project of Gustav Berntsen, one of the leading exponents of the so-called “Copenhagen sound” which in recent times has fed successful playlists on Spotify and debates in spaces like Primavera Pro.
Gustav is Danish, unlike some of the artists found in these playlists, where you often encounter tracks by Smerz or Erika de Casier. Although it’s also true that he cut his teeth in London, where he moved and where his new label AD93 is based, or that he spent all the money he earned from a Jaguar advertisement recording under proper conditions in Sweden.
And when we say he appeared in a Jaguar ad, it’s not that he provided music for it: it means he appeared as a model. A peculiar character, not particularly fond of promotional photos, that you will be able to see perform for the first time on September 12 in Madrid. Specifically, at El Sótano.
Following the 2024 release of ‘Gusse Music’, the album that now arrives under the title ‘Herzsprung’ has been introduced with three singles: the contemplative ‘Starsound’; the counterpart for her, ‘Adrenaline’, which opens the album; and the leading single ‘The Next Day’, which we have chosen as Song of the Day.
While the Copenhagen sound can include elements closer to dream-pop, trip-hop or bedroom pop, always within underground boundaries and far from mainstream pop, GB leans toward art-rock, free jazz, a more restrained grunge, or a more elusive indie. The REM in the pre-fame days, those who played only on college radio, can be a reference.
That is the case of the track that, for now, stands as his star song, this ‘The Next Day’ which presents a chord progression that is somewhat crystal-clear, in contrast with a lyric filled with indecisions (“give me hell, I want nothing else / give me peace, I want nothing else”). A text that questions the end of both “the hours we spend alone” and “the endless hunts.” To this contrast adds the lovely chorus by Alba Akvama, the cello of Emily Wittbrodt and the piano of Frederik Vuust.
Here is the album’s tracklist releasing tonight:
01 Adrenaline
02 If Only You’re Still Around
03 The Next Day
04 Starsound
05 Belly
06 Pipe Dream [ft. Alba Akvama]
07 Era
08 Small Gods
09 Shit River
10 Katie Magic True
The GB news brings us the long-discussed “Copenhagen sound” as noted by jenesaispop.com.
