My 2008 has so far had one musical theme: Denmark. Last year’s favourite Danes, Alphabeat, are featuring in most of the 2008 prediction lists, which is obviously fantastic news for the fantastic 6. And I personally have spent most of the first four days of this year dancing about my room to my recently acquired new favourite album, the debut by Private, which I plan to give a full review of soon.
I recently read that Denmark (closely followed by the rest of Scandinavia) is the happiest country in Europe, and it certainly seems to be showing in their musical output, especially Alphabeat and widely forgotten pop dynamos Junior Senior. With these three bands the Danes have created a special place for themselves in the pop world, producing the musical equivalent of absolute joy. I can’t wait to see who else will emerge from this country whose best-known export is Aqua. Maybe it’s not quite ABBA (only by two letters!) but I wouldn’t be ashamed of it. If Denmark really is the home of happy pop and happy people, I think I’ll go there for my next holiday.