«Danevirke» collects short compositions of Danish reeds player Lars Greve, known from the band Girls in Airports, and pianist Jeppe Zeeberg, known from his bands Horse Orchestra and Dødens Garderobe, written for and recorded with four different amateur big bands in Denmark plus solo pieces of Greve and Zeeberg. «Danevirke» is released as a 10″ EP vinyl. .
The title «Danevirke» draws strings to a battle between the Danes and Germans from 1864 where the Danes who lost it to the Germans, and relates to the «current society and the nationalism that springs not only in Denmark, but throughout Europe». The six compositions are described as «a wordless commentary on the nationalist flourishing of today».

The music begins in an optimistic manner and a hyper, post-modernist tone that blends dixieland, swinging music with some clever detours into contemporary music. According to Greve and Zeeberg the first two compositions «emulate a people preparing for war, still believing they are going to win». «Slaget» marks the shift into a more somber tone and realization that wars, all wars, bring only chaos and suffering, even the winning one. The crying clarinet of Greve on «Bluesen» deepens this painful realization and the mesmerizing drone-like «Tågen» cements it even further. The last «Minderne» offers a disintegration of the familiar themes and the world as we know it, sliding into unknown dark future.

May the current wave of global nationalism decay soon!

Eyal Hareuveni

Jeppe Zeeberg (p), Lars Greve (s, cl), Ribe Big Band, Farum Big Band, Svendborg Gymnasiums Big Band, Night Train Big Band.