Today, the Danish guitarist and songwriter Asger Tarpgaard is releasing the warm, thoughtful single "I Wear Shades" via XS Noize as he presents his brand new project Souldier. Souldier's music is inspired by older British and American songwriter traditions. The track tells the story about hiding yourself behind a pair of sunglasses -- at some point, you should consider taking them off.
On the video, directors Anne Sofie Madsen & Anders Christiansen write:
"We shot the video during the early stages of the COVID 19 lockdown. While the 3 of us were quarantined on the island Møn. It's sort of a creative exploration of the strangeness we felt, being completely isolated. The feeling of having all the time in the world, coupled with a dystopic unease of not knowing where things were heading. It unfolds as a series of unhurried snapshots - a variety of uncanny juxtapositions. The video itself is a plotless portrait of a drifter. A dreamlike pastiche of the "young dude in search of enlightenment" genre. We think that these themes and imagery suit this beautiful song well.
Souldier's upcoming debut album A Handful of Dust is out later this year and was recorded in the freetown of Christiana in Copenhagen, Denmark. It's produced by Boi Holm with Andreas Murga on bass and Theis Alstrup on drums.
Asger Tarpgaard is known from his time as part of the pop trio Private and from being guitarist in Superheroes, a successful millennium-band playing three Roskilde Festivals (including being the opening act on Orange Stage) and touring around the world.
After taking a break from writing music he's now back with the musical project Souldier, a play on the words soul and soldier. Asger explains this as the contradictions between something emotional, thoughtful, heartfelt and something emotionless, cold and impersonal. The music of Souldier is meant to be the former, expressing himself and and putting his heart and soul into his music.
The new single "I Wear Shades" expresses a certain 70's pop production-vibe with notes of The Beach Boys, Supertramp, The Lovin' Spoonful and especially George Harrison/Paul McCartney. Still, the track seems to fit perfectly into the current of modern popular music, bringing something brand new to the table. As Asger puts it:
"I like that my music plays on something traditional, but still feels original and new. This feeling that you're finding a unique corner within the great world of songwriting that hasn't been taken yet"
"I Wear Shades" is written on the piano from Asger's childhood home. It was recently brought to his apartment in Copenhagen, and as he found that the sound and tune of the piano was the same as 30 years ago, he decided to create a song based on that specific output - which helps creating the strong 70's vibe on the track.
Following the release of the single, Souldier is also sending out a music video, where he's being portrayed as a man searching for a white gate. Walking through fields and forests in a kind of slo-mo, the video supports the warm feeling in the sound of Souldier.
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