New Danish four-piece Communions are set to release new double A-side single So Long Sun/Love Stands Still on Monday (10 November) and play their debut UK show the same night at the Seabright Arms in London. Still crossing boarders is nothing to them. Though all Danes, half the band were brought up in their native land and the other half spent their youth in the US. To explain, they’ve made us a Playlist of the musical and international fault line that runs through the band. “Both Mads and I were born in Copenhagen, where we lived until I was around five. We then moved to the States because our father got a job, we stayed in Seattle until I was around 15 or 16,” explains singer Martin Rehof. “Upon moving back to Denmark we eventually met Frederik and Jacob and started Communions about a year and a half ago. These are some songs that remind us each of our childhoods and youth in significant ways.”
Kids In America by Martin Rehof and Mads Rehof
Roy Orbison – Only The Lonely
“My father used to always play Roy Orbison when I was very young. To me, Roy wrote some of the greatest pop melodies of all time and is probably one of my favorite singers.”
David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust
“After moving back to Denmark from the States I started at a high school in Copenhagen where I didn’t know anyone and felt very out of place. Eventually I made a friend, Emil, and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust was one the albums I think we bonded over the most.”
The Strokes – Barely Legal
“A lot of people tend to look towards the 60s, or 70s, etc with awe and nostalgia. The time that I feel the most nostalgic about is probably the early 2000s. Everything about the Strokes and their first album reminds me of being young in America – like the first time I tried kissing a girl, or tried sneaking out of my parents’ house. After having bonded over them together now, this is one of the songs that will always get played during parties at our apartment.”
Nirvana – Heart-Shaped Box
“I’ve always listened to what by brother listened to, and I think what I heard most growing up was Nirvana. Plus they’re from Seattle where we lived.”
GG Allin – You Hate Me And I Hate You
We just moved to Denmark in 2008 and I was really angry. For some reason I started to listen to GG Allin a lot.
Great Danes by Jacob van Deurs Formann (guitar) and Frederik Lind Köppen
Chaos UK – Four Minute Warning
“Around age 13, I stopped attending my public school classes, so I naturally spent most of my time sitting and drinking in Copenhagen’s public squares, attending left wing protests around the city, and listening to British hardcore and street punk. ”Burning Britain” by Chaos UK was one of my favorite records at that time.”
SODS – Tin Can People
“I think this was the first punk song I ever heard. It is featured on the first Danish punk compilation ever, Paere Punk, released in 1979. My dad owns it, so iI guess it was him, who played it for me back then.”
Burzum – Lost Wisdom
“Copenhagen somehow seemed a lot bleaker a couple of years ago, than it is today. I used to walk around the city, pretty directionless, and listen to this album and this one song in particular.”
New Order – True Faith
“I heard this song for the first time at a party, and throughout that night I experienced Copenhagen as I still know it today. Somehow this track defined a new era of my life.”
Bone Thugs’N’Harmony – Mr. Bill Collector
“One new years eve some years ago, my brother and I were celebrating the countdown in an industrial kitchen while we were listing to this song, badly played through cellphone speakers. But it was nice.”
For more head to Communions.dk
