Copenhagen-based artist Annsofie Salomon debuts on TAMBOURHINOCEROS with expressionistic single “Soft Dreams”.
“Soft Dreams” may be Annsofie Salomon’s first single, but it certainly isn’t her first artistic endeavour. In fact, she sees this as her “fourth incarnation”.
She cites her first incarnation as “Earth and Paper” at which point she left school to follow her own path to “write about nature, and to do that in a way that was personal as well as scientific.”. Her second is “Canvas and Limestone”, when she moved into the medium of sculpting and applied to – and was subsequently rejected from – art school. The third incarnation is cited as “Harbour and Horses” when, after multiple rejections, Annsofie Salomon took her creations and “dumped it all in the ocean. Somehow it wasn’t working; writing about limestone, or using it.”
Whilst she retreated to the countryside to live, work and train with horses, her own creative mind couldn’t be quelled; songs began to form.
Thus, the birth of her fourth incarnation is referred to as “Balance and Soft Dreams”. It’s this incarnation in which Salomon feels most able to express her time spent creating to no avail. In her own words, “I spent years trying to convince people that my art was just as modern. My salvation really came when I gave up trying to fit in and started to just be – exist – write what and how I wanted. Because somehow over time, trying to fit in, I had lost my own true language. I trust now that when I’m making music, writing, or painting, my body knows what to say and how to say it.”
Musically, “Soft Dreams” is delightfully off-kilter. It starts with a thrum, one that’s akin to hearing a far off helicopter getting closer, that is then joined by the ominous drumbeat. It’s an auspicious opening; you genuinely don’t know where the track is going. Yet it gives way to this jaunting, folksy track led by Annsofie Salomon’s crystal clear vocals that call to mind Lykke Li’s wonderful high tenor. Her singular, delicate vibrato is a nice add-on.
As “Soft Dreams” meanders leisurely into its chorus, her sparse vocals are joined by a strangely heartbreaking bassline and some ethereal chimes flirting around playfully, building upon a glorious ebb and flow. “Soft Dreams” allows itself to slow to the point of stopping before picking up again, displaying confidence and making it a truly measured debut single.
Lyrically, unsurprisingly, it’s beautifully poetic as she assembles fragments from titles of her sculptures and paintings, the very same ones that now lie at the bottom of the Copenhagen Harbour.
“Soft Dreams” comes with a Phillip Jørgensen-directed video, showing Annsofie Salomon watching these past incarnations at sea as she grapples to come to terms with her dreams of the past, present and future.
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