Here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today, we’ve been listening to the latest single from Denmark’s, TROLN. For Love was released on February 10th, 2023.
For Love is an encouragement for people living in abusive relationships to acknowledge, that what they might do for love – forgive, change, submit – might not be love at all. The song has elements of the tale of Bluebeard, the wife-killer, and the bleeding key, that gave away his true nature.
With a heartbeat-like kick drum, the song instantly puts you on the back foot and deliberately makes you feel a little uncomfortable with its minor chords and electronic noises which disturb the flow of the song – making you feel there is something dangerous lurking nearby.
The vocals, provided by Helene Navne, are close and intimate. Every breath in between lines is clearly audible, and whilst her voice is smooth and serene, the breathiness and intimacy make the listener fearful for her safety.
There are moments in For Love that we were reminded of Portishead – a kind of Trip-Hop feel to the drum patterns. The unique and disruptive electronic sounds put us in mind of Fiona Apple’s latest album. There were times we were reminded of the discomfort of a Tom Waits or Nick Cave song, and there were patches in Helene’s voice that you could happily draw comparisons to Kate Bush.
The chord progression is interesting and keeps the listener engaged and the overall sound has an almost underwater feel to it, with very little top end in the mix – all adding to the slightly disturbing and creepy feel the song conveys.
We loved the electric guitar solo riffs with female vocals repeatedly wailing “for love” over the top of them, while a piano plays busy flourishes underneath.
To us, this song is an absolutely perfect candidate fora sync deal for use in a TV show or movie – definitely murder mystery material! We feel this would be a great vehicle for the band to progress their music to a wider audience.
TROLN members are: Helene Navne (vocals), Christian Rønn (organ/keys/noise), Sam
Brox (guitar), Jan Kroman (bass), Thomas Olsen (drums/beats)
TROLN’s, For Love, is a hypnotic and disturbing exploration of self-discovery at the end of an abusive relationship. A slow burn but highly recommended.