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Press
Singer/songwriter is such a cliché that Jacob Faurholt is probably also becoming tired of. Anyone writing songs and performing them should fall under that category, but as long as people need styles to be able to make themselves a mental image of a band, we won't get past this obstacle. Jacob Faurholt and his band Sweetie Pie Wilbur are from Denmark, a country where people seem to have an affinity for moody sad folk music, or how can we explain that Giant Sand's Howe Gelb chose to live there. It comes as no surprise that Faurholt has already played with Gelb, and this is also already a clearer indication of what to expect. Faurholt is playing subdued acoustic guitar and harmonica, and singing of course, with a melancholic, sometimes slightly raspy voice, not at all sounding as if English is just a foreign language to him. Sweetie Pie Wilbur are Kasper Ronberg Schultz who's playing a whole panoply of instruments (guitars, harmonica, glockenspiel, organ, drums, ukulele, melodica and megaphone) and Trine Omo on electric guitar and frail vocals, giving the music an atmosphere of laid back Papas Fritas at times. A whole bunch of guest musicians add choir vocals, saxophone, trumpet and violins, transforming Queen Of Hope into a miniature masterpiece, where subdued folk songs are treated with lush chamber pop elements. It is a quiet album, not unlike what the Norwegians Kings Of Convenience introduced a couple of years ago, and at times we are also reminded of an early, more symphonic Nick Drake. This is a perfect album for lazy summer afternoons (like today while I am writing this), and the shortness of it all can be excused by the fact that Pink Moon was also only half an hour short. You can download a lot of songs on the artist's website, which should give you ample reason to look further into this exceptional album. - Disagreement (LU)
Very few people in the world are able to pick up an acoustic guitar and make as weird-sounding songs as Faurholt, and simultaneously keep the quality up! - Rockfreaks (UK)
Jacob Faurholt is an Danish singer/songwriter who sings primarily in English. His music is a little dark but folk none-the-less. I would liken his music to that of Iron & Wine or even Nick Drake at times. Things are all dark and bleak with Faurholt. Take "Let's Build a House On This Ground". The subject matter is a little somber but the whole feel ends up being quite uplifting. I really enjoy the arrangements on Are You In The Mood For Love. You might say that they are minimal but they really work for his style of songs. "Rusty Country Cage" is a great song with a little more of an Americana feel to it rather than the primary folk sound of most of the rest of the album. I do hear a bit of a Connor Oberst sound to Fauholt's vocals. That's it though, not the music or the arrangements.
Jacob is the sort of musician that would be a hometown hero. You know the type, the ones that every local music fan flocks to see but has a hard time breaking out of his comfort zone. I think if anything will do it for Faurholt it will be this album. There really isn't one thing wrong with it. If you like one song you'll like the whole collection. All 10 songs deserve to be on here. I don't know what else to suggest to Jacob for mass exposure other than touring, perfect booking for your local coffee house. - Music Emissions (UK)
An original and unshakeable desertrock on the Danish plain – and a nice gloomy companion in the cold winter time.
- Dr/Musik (DK)
It is all culminating in the melancholy and unbearable beautiful song “We Stole Those Years”.
- Berlingske (DK)
On “Are You In The Mood For Love” naked vocal and acoustic guitar are beautiful supplied with great choirs, crooked percussion and blissful Lanois-guitar.
- Gaffa (DK)
There’s no chartbusters on the record. The beautiful but sad song “Rusty Country Cage” which could easily have been a “murder ballad” on a Nick Cave album is the closest Jacob gets to a top 40 chart.
- Diskant (DK)
With refined figurative lyrics and miserable lonely ballads Faurholt manage to create an emotional depth that should be able to sting everyone wherever you are.
- Soundvenue (DK)
There’s no doubt about the fact that Jacob Faurholt is the most interesting new Danish folk-musician.
- BT (DK)
Jacob Faurholt has a CD of slightly gothic folk that may well appeal to lovers of the work of (definately) Adrian Crowley & (possibly) early Bright Eyes. It's entitled 'Are you in the mood for love?' and the Nick Cave influence starts to infiltrate your mind by the second track, the dusty & sinister 'A Fish in a Bowl', all spaghetti western woo-hoos, twangy guitar splinters, snaky percussion & a lyric that really reminds me of Julian Cope's more forboding moments. As a long playing collection, there's more than enough satisfactory moments on this Dane's 3rd album to ensure a pleasing ride. His voice has a rich, harmoious character & the playing is tender & accomplished with enough traditional flourishes to appease the old guard whilst including possibly the most jarring Jandek like solo on 'Rusty Country Cage'. Well loved in his native country, this digipak CD will serve you singer-songwriter obsessives well! - Norman Records (UK)
Discography
Queen Of Hope (2005, Quartermain Records/Target)
Hurrah Hurrah (2007, Quartermain Records/Target)
Are You In The Mood For Love? (2009, Slow Shark Records/VME)
Why Write? - 5 song EP (2009, What A Mess! Records/VME)
Utyske! - 7" vinyl (2010, Kaptajn Bjørneklo)
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Bio
In 2005 the Danish trio Jacob Faurholt & Sweetie Pie Wilbur released their debut album "Queen of Hope" on the Danish independent label Quartermain Records. On "Queen of Hope" you’ll hear an under-acted, spontaneous and intimate pop with little mistakes and disharmonies.
To support the album Jacob Faurholt & Sweetie Pie Wilbur played a long line of concerts, including support for CocoRosie, Grizzly Bear and Efterklang.
Faurholt’s second album (first on his own), "Hurrah Hurrah", was released in 2007. It is an album of 10 lo-fi folk songs with outbursts of noise, and Johanna and Miriam E Berhan from the Swedish duo Taxi Taxi! contributes vocals to the song "Sing little bird". “Hurrah Hurrah” was released in Denmark & Germany.
Faurholt’s third album "Are you in the mood for love?" followed in February 2009 on the Danish label Slow Shark Records. A dark, atmospheric and sparse album, with drunken backing vocals, recorded live with Danish producer Kristian Westergård. Faurholt played several concerts around Denmark to support the release, including support for The Handsome Family and his old time favorites The Black Heart Procession.
In November 2009 Faurholt released an EP with his new project Why Write? on the Canadian based label What A Mess! Records. The American producer Kramer (Galaxie 500, Low, Daniel Johnston) mixed the songs, which have a richer instrumentation than Faurholt’s previous work, and draws comparison to noise-pop bands from the early nineties.
"Are you in the mood for love?" was released in Germany on September 3rd 2010. To support the release Faurholt went on a German tour with The Funz (UK/CAN) as support.
In August 2010 Faurholt released two songs, with Danish lyrics, on a 7" vinyl called "Utyske!". The lyrics were written by Kasper Rønberg Schultz (ex - Sweetie Pie Wilbur).
Jacob Faurholt is currently living in Berlin.
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