The Worst Song in the World: Smag På Dig Selv slam a soppy John Lennon classic
If 28 Years Later had been set in Denmark, then the nation’s rising trio, Smag På Dig Selv, may well have provided the perfect soundtrack.
Their electronic sound perfectly pairs a deep sense of folk anthems marauding over fjords from centuries ago and a definite feeling of a future awakening. The past and somewhere beyond the present meet in an underground basement. Their latest single, ‘Let’s Go!’, oscillates with a blurring techno whirl, yet the traditional horns hark back to an age primed for Netflix to historically misrepresent.
This glorious mishmash exemplifies the group’s uncanny sound. The band, who formed back in 2018, have also been danceable, and they’ve always had a punk directness, too. However, as they’ve matured their sound, a certain intoxicating eeriness has crept in. There are words in ‘Let’s Go!’, just the familiar horns, drums, and electronic flourishes, but a strange, plunging depth is evoked.
That might often be the case with experimental music, but it isn’t always the case for pop. So, hot off the heels of the new single, and looking ahead to their next album, which is due for release in March, we asked the band, who formed in the Freetown of Christiania to pick out a song that they hated and they opted for a track that, in an inverse of their own, apparently achieves so little with so much.
John Lennon’s classic ‘Imagine’ might be the poster child for peace in the form of a beloved pop song, but Smag På Dig Selv see it as a sorry, sugar-coated cop out, honouring the Steely Dan sentiment when they sang, “Only a fool would say that.” Behold their bashing of the classic below.
Smag På Dig Selv pick the worst song in the world:
“‘Imagine’ promotes an abstract, vague, and unrealistic utopia without addressing very real problems like capitalism, imperialism, class struggle, racism, and the climate crisis. With lines like ‘Imagine there’s no heaven / It’s easy if you try’ or ‘Imagine no possessions / I wonder if you can / No need for greed or hunger,’ the song rings hollow coming from a white, male millionaire on acid.”
“It offers nothing but hollow moral appeals rather than concrete ideas or criticism of anything real.”
“Furthermore, the song is caught up in its promotion of liberal pacifism, completely neglecting the systemic powers that be. It’s an example of a boomer-like peaceful illusion and self-justification, offering nothing but dreams to those who are oppressed or in need. Opium of the people, one might say.”
“Also, the melodies are just so unbelievably and frustratingly irritating in their naive cheerfulness.”
With Smag På Dig Selv now exploring the need for an “ambient Viking band”, they hope to present the inverse of Lennon‘s famed/infamous ‘Imagine’ – a sound that speaks unto great depths with minimalist, raving purpose.
Aside from the new single and forthcoming album on Stunt Records, they’ll be embarking upon a run of shows as part of the Christiania World Tour.
The group explain, it‘ll all be “pretty dramatic and all.“
