he is tall is the moniker of Danish artist Troels Sorensen
Danish songwriter and musician Troels Thorkild Sørensen’s tracks have been playing on regular rotation here in the cafe for a couple of weeks, and we are happy now to share this promising talent with all of you.
Sørensen’s new track, “Dad,” is melodically and harmonically surprising and original, wholesome and comfortingly beautiful.
The single is a tribute to his father with lyrical content that explores deep feelings and thoughts about when his father will no longer be around.
It may at first seem a bit premature to write a tribute song to a father who is still alive, and presumably still relatively young, but Sørensen said he wanted his father to be able to hear the song since he obviously wouldn’t be able to after death. (That was a strange sentence to compose)
Sørensen personally found it sad but also “quite meditative” to write and record the song.
It’s a heartbreaking song instrumentally with a bumping guitar vibe and finger-picking all of the way through and vocals and choruses that you won’t hear probably anywhere else.
Now a resident of Copenhagen, he grew up in the small town of Mårslet, near Aarhus, Denmark. He records under the moniker, he is tall, with an emphasis apparently on lowercase letters.
Retreating solo into the countryside, Sørensen recorded the song in a small cabin where he grew up. He captured the natural surroundings with sounds from a passing river, bird songs and the dancing of wind through the trees. He then mixed the samples into the song during mixing.
Coincidentally, Sørensen is actually not that tall, he says, but he feels tall when he goes on the “small stages around Demark” with just his guitar. He expresses a sense that he grows on stage when he plays and “shines with confidence.”
Sørensen said he initially made an impact in the Danish underground music scene and that some have compared him to the legendary Jeff Buckley. We can sort of see that in a way, especially with the unique vocals and delivery.
His musical influences cross genres from indie-pop to hip hop, which he merges interestingly into some of his tracks.
Danish national radio host Sebastian Saxton said about Sørensen during a live broadcast: “I think your style is really original and it’s difficult for me to see how others should imitate you – which is rare praise to give – so thank you so much for your music. I really appreciate it. I really think your vocal is strong.”
In May, he is tall released a single “little brother” which received airplay in the United States and in Denmark. The track was also featured on Spotify’s playlist Discover: Indie Rising Denmark’s Nordic Hits Playlist by Bands of Tommorrow.
Another song from last year, “Open Mouth Pt. 2”, is a piano-driven singer/songwriter heart-bleeder. A melancholy song, the theme of missing his loved ones plays out once again; obviously, his family is on his mind; perhaps it’s homesickness.
Over the past decade-plus, we have been fortunate enough to be the first indie blog to feature at least many dozens of artists and bands that went on to bigger things because of being featured on IRC.
Something tells us that Sørensen has a good shot at being one of those artists if he plays his hand well.
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