Just so you know, one of my pet hates is when people say there's no good music to be found anymore. Usually, they try to support their argument by appealing to modern pop music; music in the top 40 and on the radio. This somehow "proves" that good music has significantly declined, and isn't like the Good Old Days™ (i.e. their era of choice).
That argument fails spectacularly because bad music has always existed. Furthermore, the top 40, radio or TV have never been the places to find good new music. If it appears there, it is simply a matter of fortune. To my mind, the proclamation makes even less sense in the internet age, when new music can be stumbled upon, sometimes by accident, by just a few clicks.
And this is exactly how I discovered Under Byen in 2008.
There are some bands and some artists whose music clicks with you almost instantly, and from the first few seconds of 'Samme Stof som Stof', I was already hooked. What I heard instantly found its home somewhere within the centre of my being, and I needed more.
I therefore picked up the album from which the aforementioned song was derived and devoured it. What followed was this album, by way of the single 'Plantage', followed by everything else I could get my hands on.
Det er mig der holder træerne sammen was the album I came back to again and again; sometimes you can hear flashes of Bjork, other times, Portishead and yet other times later era Talk Talk, but they sound like nobody but themselves. The lyrics, delivered entirely in Danish make no sense to me (beyond occasionally googling translations), but that only serves to make the music more mysterious, alien and poetic.
As 2008's autumn turned to winter, the nights grew longer and colder, and Under Byen's music became the blanket in which I wrapped myself to stave off the cold. Det er mig der holder træerne sammen in particular makes me think of winter sun, very probably because it was on such wintry but sunny days that I played the album the most.
Discovering this amazing band was truly one of the happiest accidents of my life.
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