Events
Elias Rønnenfelt (DK)
Heavy Glory is the first solo record by Elias Rønnenfelt, who for the past 16 years has been the singer of Iceage, a band he co-founded when he was 16 years old. Heavy Glory is the sound of growing up by throwing oneself into the world, made by someone whose only constant companions have been a pen and a guitar. The album tells tales of inspiration and perseverance in the face of chaos, isolation and excess. Villains are poetic, crocodiles and rats without names or shapes, while banal details evoke a sharp, lived ennui, from the perfume of a urinal to the mere fact of Luton, London’s loneliest airport. The world it describes is a bright mess, and Rønnenfelt is in it. He knows how to be in it.
Heavy Glory was recorded in Copenhagen, in chapters and moments, over the course of a year. Rønnenfelt plays the guitars. Iceage’s Dan Kjær Nielsen plays drums. Forever collaborators including Iceage and Danish ’77 punk godfather Peter Peterdrop drop in, and two songs feature distinctive vocal counterpoints from Joanne Robertson and Fauzia. “I’ve done this a bunch of times,” Rønnenfelt explains, speaking of the process of crafting a long player, “but capturing and crystallizing an album remains a singular ritual, just with different circumstances. We are capturing something that is hard to hold down.”
The record closes with two covers. The first, Spacemen 3’s “Sound of Confusion,” is a mission statement of the life Rønnenfelt has found and inherited in music. “Here it comes,” the song famously promises, and flares out into noise. It is a joyful noise, because this life, in all its grit, is the life he chose. A personal anthem since his early teen years, “Sound of Confusion” became a statement that Rønnenfelt would finally make out loud on that journey in the summer of 2022, when he entreated Pete Kember, aka Spacemen 3’s Sonic Boom, to play the song with him at a show in Lisbon.
The second, Townes Van Zandt’s “No Place to Fall,” is a sweet plea, Rønnenfelt’s final invitation to join him on his journey. It is also a waltz, a one-two-three that whirls in a circle. This journey—this story, this record—will repeat and continue. It never stops. These are the circumstances enshrined in ritual through the creation of this album. “Hit the bottle, wash it down, while there’s still time for another round,“ he sings on “Another Round.” Such is Heavy Glory.
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Accessibility
The Cultural Center Oceanen is a Q-marked culturally historical building, which is challenging when it comes to accessibility. We do our best to have as many people as possible visit us. When visiting us with mobility aids the best-suited entrance is through the stage. This entrance is accessed via Gathenhielmska trädgården. The entrance is locked, please email us the day before your visit or the latest Friday at 16:00 if you are visiting us during the weekend. We have a wheelchair-accessible bathroom. Personal assistants do not need to purchase their own ticket, but we ask you to contact us in advance so we can issue a ticket for the person.
Please note that flashing lights may occur during concerts and events. For questions regarding accessibility email Mia Herman at mia@oceanen.com.