Northern Portrait - The Fallen Aristocracy EP (2008)

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In the annals of Scandinavian pop and rock, Denmark seems remarkably under-represented. Outside of the woefully underrated The Figurines, there’s not much of a mark left on the current musical consciousness. Matinée’s global search for all things indie pop was bound to turn up something eventually and Northern Portrait fits the bill nicely.

Like most of the label’s artists, the group is covered in sticky pop fingerprints from some of the ’80s’ greatest. Crazy, the EP’s first track, has the supple flow of C86 recorded at a much higher fidelity and is rife with Morrissey-isms like, “I’ll slit the throat of anyone who wants to put me down.” Speaking of The Smiths, A Quiet Night in Copenhagen is a musical dead-ringer for that band’s neglected gem of a B-side, Jeanne, and easily the catchiest two-minute pop song of the year so far. Waiting For a Chance is pure Sundays, English lilting gloom, propelled by an acoustic guitar strum and insistent tambourine and The Cure gets a nod on the heavenly, romantic cascades of the title track.

The Fallen Aristocracy does much more than simply recycle its influences, it carves out a solid niche in the rare overlapping Venn diagrams between nostalgia, solid songwriting, and Denmark.