Bastian Bertelsen keeps the party going / Helt væk

Even though we don’t understand Danish singer, songwriter and producer Bastian Bertelsen’s new single, Helt Væk still speaks volumes.

Bastian describes the song as ‘finding your way back to your true self after being lost for a long while, and as the feeling of arriving at a party and wanting to keep the spirit of it going.’

And it’s a party song for sure, with danceable rhythms and a catchy chorus. You can also hear another dimension and depth, not the least in Bastian Bertelsen’s emphatic voice.

we don’t have to understand the language to understand what this song has to say.

The arrangement is an excellent mix of neo-soul, funk and modern house music. It includes the bass and electronic sound of house music, the wind instruments of a soul tune, and a funky chorus with a falsetto in the style of Swedish soul man Erik Gadd. The song also offers great contrasts and variety between the verses and the choruses. The hypnotic verses are somewhat dark, giving the listener additional focus with their pounding background sound. However, the chorus is far more upbeat and catchy and a bit more clean sounding, and Bastian does a great job switching between the two.

We can picture this song being played in many different settings. It makes a perfect club song (though we’ve still not heard a Danish sung song in Sweden) but works just as well in your headphones walking through town on a sunny summer day or for brightening the mood and getting back in focus on a dull workday. It has a groovy vibe without compromising on depth or meaning, and we don’t have to understand the language to understand what this song has to say.

Find this and more in this month’s playlist Scandi Soul MAY 2022.