frk. jacobsen is a solo project by Danish drummer-percussionist-vocalist-composer Anja Jacobsen, co-founder of the artist collective and label Eget Værelse (referencing Virginia Woolf’s seminal essay A Room of One’s Own), and known from the bands Selvhenter and Valby Vokalgruppe. I Haven (In the garden in Danish) is the third album of frk. Jacobsen and concludes three years of work that involved the staged concert I/O -en koncert i 9 scener’ (‘I/O – a concert in 9 scenes) in the 2021 edition of the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, with dramaturg Sara Hamming and graphic artist Sara Laub where the text was projected as the libretto in an opera, and the lines that were sung, and used as directing remarks during instrumental pieces.
I Haven, like previous works of frk. Jacobsen, Lobsters and Thin Dry Sticks (Eget Værelse, 2013 and 2018), invites the listener into Jacobsen’s highly imaginative and colorful music world. She composed the music and the lyrics, now staged like a theatrical, cosmic-psychedelic experience in a magical garden where all things arise and transform, as in the natural seasons. From being on the forest floor, by the cherry tree to the field, where you can meet a heifer calf transformed into a stone, or a woman that ages suddenly, as all are interrupted by a few intermezzos into the future but incorporating ideas from the ancient world.
The gentle, emotional vocal delivery of Jacobsen, as well as her seductive and hypnotic rhythmic patterns, are embraced beautifully by the sublime guitar work of Lars Bech Pilgaard, the untimely, vintage keyboards of Lil Lacy and the driving bass playing of Ida Duelund. I Haven unfolds like a play that defies the borders between music, theater, poetry and performance, stressing the unique and rare musical imagination and vision of Jacobsen that has an immediate, uplifting impact on the listener’s imagination and calls for repeated listening that may explore more secrets of this magical garden. I Haven is released as a limited-edition, environmentally-friendly vinyl (where you can find the text of the songs) with a download option.
Eyal Hareuveni
Anja Jacobsen (dr, perc, lead v), Lil Lact (keys, c, choir v), Ida Duelund (b), Lars Bech Pilgaard (g)
frk. jacobsen – I HAVEN from Eget Værelse on Vimeo.
