EFTERKLANG ~ Windflowers

Every year as spring arrives, a sea of tiny flowers blossom across the Danish forest floor. They’re an explosion of colour, a symbol of hope and change, disappearing as quickly as they arrived and exposing the constant cycle of nature. They are known colloquially as windflowers.  

For over twenty years, Efterklang have been pushing the barriers of experimental, electronic, emotional chamber-pop. Announcing their sixth studio album Windflowers, their first for City Slang, the Danish trio of Mads Brauer, Rasmus Stolberg and Casper Clausen continue a creative journey that’s brought them closer together, even as their lives grow apart. Channelling the motifs of hope and change its namesake flora represents, the album sees their many years of collaboration and experimentation distilled into some of their finest and most direct melodic moments to date.

 With their ability to bring in guests and session musicians restricted, Efterklang had to challenge their usual creative process and accept their own limitations. Recorded over the course of five trips to residential studio Real Farm on the island of Møn, south of Copenhagen, the genesis of Windflowers was back to basics and became an exercise in putting their vast and dynamic experience to play. The album finds Casper singing in English again, for the most part. It’s rich and intimate, the sound of three friends finding each other at a time when the world around them felt unstable. The record is about existing, alone, together and in nature. It’s about reconnecting, and letting each other grow

 Efterklang’s constant innovation and openness for collaborating extends past the band’s core members and into the world of the listener. Now sharing new music through their Developed platform, fans are invited to collaborate and respond as they listen to the new tracks for the first time. Collaboration and community has always been the compass of Efterklang, and the group keeps looking for new ways to build a meaningful correspondence with their audience, to be inventive and inclusive. “We don’t want to play to people, we want to perform and make music with people,” Rasmus explains. 

After all their years together, Mads, Casper and Rasmus share the real intimacy of family. Windflowers is proof that connection and community can triumph over adversity, and the result is something truly beautiful.

 Written by Jen Long

CREDITS

Efterklang is Mads Brauer, Casper Clausen & Rasmus Stolberg.

All songs written by Efterklang (Sony Music Publishing Scandinavia).
Lady Of The Rocks co-written with Øyunn & Christian Balvig. Åbent Sår co-written with Axel Willner aka The Field.

Lyrical guidance by Melanie Matthieu.
Additional arrangements for Hold Me Close When You Can by Christian Balvig. 

Produced by Efterklang.
Track 9 co-produced by The Field.

Mixed by Mads Brauer assisted by Nikolaj Nielsen at artFREQ. Studio in Copenhagen.
Stem-mix & mastering by Joel Krozer at Six Bit Deep in Copenhagen.
Vinyl cut by Lupo in Berlin.

Recorded by Mads Brauer at RealFarm on Møn & Efterklangs studio in Copenhagen. Additional recordings by Thomas Vang at The Village in Copenhagen, Pierre Dozin at Jet Studio in Brussels, Peter Kohlmetz Møller in Svendborg, Casper Clausen at Olho de Boi in Lisbon, at Rataplan & De Studio in Antwerp & in Efterklangs studio in Copenhagen. 

All songs performed by Efterklang with: 

Øyunn: drums (1,2,4,5,7,8), vocals (1,3,6,7
Indrė Jurgelevičiūtė: kanklės (5), vocals (1,3,5,6,7,8,9), flute (4
Christian Balvig: piano (1,3,4,7), synth (1,2), cello (1,2,3,4,8
Bert Cools: guitar-synth (2), synth (5), Irish bouzouki (6)
Karen Beldring: vocals (5)
Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen: violin, viola, cello (2,3,7,8,9)

Alien Arms contains a sample of the song ‘std’ from the album ‘New Games’ by Goat (jp).
Living Other Lives contains samples from ‘Deep Listening Session’ performed by Laraaji used by permission all rights reserved.

Album artwork & art direction by Hvass&Hannibal with photography by Tine Bek.

We would like to thank our beloved live band and crew, all our friends at City Slang and Sony Music Publishing Scandinavia, all the members of Efterklang’s Sock Society especially Jürgen, Doddi Stolberg, Morten-Bo Paulsen & Ian-Paul Ashworth. We also thank Kalle Lundgren, Martin Rintza, Todd Walker, Ian White, Rune Mølgaard, Søren Lynggaard, Arnold Hattingh, Michael Vinaver, Joseph Ansell, Jen Long, Jørgen Berger, Lars Nygaard, Rui Soares Costa, Katinka Fogh Vindelev, Mette Rasmussen & Sønderjysk Pigekor, Tue Kjerstein, Kristoffer Rom & Sebastian Fibiger from Nordic Waves, Frederik Teige, Clotilde Bayle, Lars Top-Galia, MXD, The Lake Radio and all our friends and dear families.

Made with support from The Danish Arts Foundation.