It is Sunday, and whatever mental or physical hangovers you have accumulated during Strøm are getting dangerously close to the return to your day job. What do you do? A solution could be to spend one of the sunnier days in recent times on Ofelia Beach, where the renowned Danish alternative radio show Det Elektroniske Barometer curates an afternoon of ”Quiet Strøm.” That turned out to be the strategy of choice for a fair number of Copenhageners. And okay, that thing about the hangovers might not apply to the toddlers chasing soap bubbles, but that’s beside the point.
On the poster were Soffie Viemose, The New Spring, and Solhorn ft. Krogsbøl, out of whom I only managed to catch The New Spring. Despite all the praise for Bastian Kallesøe’s debut effort under this moniker, I had yet to give his record a spin, but now that I have seen him play, I realize how grave a mistake that was. With an acoustic guitar and a healthy dose of weltschmerz, Kallesøe played so gently that all memories of, say, being completely off your face to Aphex Twin, quickly faded. Seeing a stripped down, acoustic performance was surprisingly refreshing after a week of electronic music in all possible incarnations.
Seeing such a large crowd – admittedly, the weather probably attracted quite a few people on its own – once again made it clear that Strøm has matured immensely this year. Laying aside the blogger hat for a second, it warms my heart to see so many people engaging with the music they like, even in untraditional contexts. From the hands-on workshops and master classes to the more straightforward concerts in Enghaveparken, people were ready to explore new ground and take chances. Kudos to the bookers for their confidence in an uncompromising lineup, but most of all to the people who had the courage to check out something new this week. Although it is hard to avoid at a festival like Strøm, those first steps out into the unknown are no less daunting. And who knows, once you are out there, you just might find something that you like.
