Seven years after their last album release, Efterklang make a welcome return with a fifth studio record Altid Sammen on 20th September.  Today, the Danish trio also announce European tour dates and share the single ‘Vi er uendelig’ with a video starring Helena Christensen.

Watch 'Vi er uendelig' here.

In support of Altid Sammen, Efterklang will perform the album in its entirety the day after release during a sold-out headline show at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie on 21st September.  Efterklang will tour Europe throughout the year and into 2020.  A full list of dates can be found below.  For a number of Efterklang’s newly announced headline shows, including the Barbican in London, you can sign up for free or pre-order the album before 2pm BST on Wednesday 12th June to get early pre-sale access to tickets on Thursday morning.  You can find all details, links and applicable concerts here: http://features.4ad.com/altidsammen/

Altid Sammen album opener ‘Vi er uendelig’ (“We are infinite”) is released today digitally.  The accompanying visuals, directed by Andreas Koefoed (behind the band’s film The Ghost Of Piramida), and featuring a fellow Dane, the model and photographer Helena Christensen, are a homage to an iconic Johnny Hallyday TV performance in 1964. 

Altid Sammen (meaning “always together”) is deep and sonorous, steeped in the sonic experimentation that has long been their trademark since Tripper, the Danes’ 2004 debut.  As bold and ambitious in scope as their last collection of songs, Piramida, Casper Clausen (vocals), Mads Brauer (synths, electronics) and Rasmus Stolberg (bass) have taken another creative U-turn, this time fusing baroque instrumentation with their signature expansive sound.

Efterklang’s last release, Piramida, centred around a ghost town in the Arctic, was a grand and all-encompassing project that spawned a movie, live album and a series of unforgettable shows (including a live debut at the Sydney Opera House).  Their final performance in Sønderborg – the southern Danish town where the band grew up – marked a closing of a chapter, for Piramida and for Efterklang. 

“We needed a break from the album and touring routine, and we needed a break from Efterklang,” says Clausen. “After the Sønderborg show, things felt very exciting – and a bit scary too.  We could think freely, and move in new directions again, just focusing on the things that excited the 3 of us.”

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That break saw the trio explore projects outside of the group’s confines. Together they co-wrote and performed an opera with friend and composer Karsten Fundal (LEAVES, The Colour Of Falling) as part of the Copenhagen Opera Festival. Meanwhile, Clausen, Brauer and Stolberg reunited with Efterklang’s touring drummer Tatu Rönkkö for a new band, Liima.  In sharp contrast to Efterklang, they scaled down the music process, creating songs in a day, and released two records of icy, grand electronic pop, ii (2016) and 1982 (2017). 

What lured them back as Efterklang was another off-kilter collaboration, this time with B.O.X, a Belgian ensemble founded by lute player Pieter Theuns that performs new music with baroque orchestration.  Initially invited by Theuns to compose music for a joint performance, the experience inspired and invigorated the trio to return to the studio for a new Efterklang album proper.  For perhaps the first time in the band’s history, they took a less-is-more approach to Altid Sammen, engaging on a more primal and emotional level.  The album also sees the trio break from tradition with Clausen singing in his mother tongue some of his most personal lyrics thus far. 

“Altid Sammen’s songs are about belief and togetherness,” Clausen says. “Not in a religious way – none of us are believers of a defined religion.  The words are searching for meaning in intimate relationships, in nature, in death and eternity.  The bonds we create; to gather, hold hands, sing or share a moment together.  We’re all connected, across nations, age, sex and gender.  We come together with all of our backgrounds, and we move apart in all sorts of directions, always together.”

Efterklang - Altid Sammen
4AD0172
1. Vi er uendelig 
2. Supertanker
3. Uden ansigt
4. I dine øjne
5. Hænder der åbner sig
6. Verden forsvinder
7. Under broen der ligger du
8. Havet løfter sig
9. Hold mine hænder
 

August
23rd - Leith Theatre (Edinburgh International Festival), Edinburgh, UK

September
13th - Sentrum Scene (Ultima), Oslo, Norway
14th - St Luke’s (Sounds From A Safe Harbour), Cork, Ireland
21th - Elbphilharmonie (Reeperbahn Festival), Hamburg, Germany **SOLD OUT**

October
8th - Niebo, Warsaw, Poland
9th - Zet Pe Te, Krakow, Poland
22nd - Teatro Lara, Madrid, Spain
23rd - Lav, Lisbon, Portugal
24th - Hard Club, Porto, Portugal

November
5th - Koncerthuset, Copenhagen, Denmark 
6th - Koncerthuset, Copenhagen, Denmark **SOLD OUT**

February
5th - Voxhall, Aarhus, Denmark
6th - Pustervik, Gothenburg, Sweden
7th - Södra Teatern, Stockholm, Sweden
8th - Babel, Malmö, Sweden
10th - Admiralspalast, Berlin, Germany
11th - Werk 2, Leipzig, Germany
12th - Mousonturm, Frankfurt, Germany
13th - Muffathalle, Munich, Germany
14th - Gasometer, Vienna, Austria
15th - Archa Theatre, Prague, Czech Republic
25th - Pavillon, Hannover, Germany
26th - Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands
27th - Gloria, Cologne, Germany
28th - Cirque Royal, Brussels, Belgium
29th - Barbican, London, UK

March
2nd - Trabendo, Paris, France
3rd - Rotondes, Luxembourg, Luxembourg 
4th - Mascotte, Zürich, Switzerland 
5th - Les Docks, Lausanne, Switzerland