- Courtesy attempts the unexpected by covering trance and Eurodance hits on her debut album, with some triumphs and stumbles along the way.
- When Najaaraq Vestbirk released Night Journeys, her debut EP as Courtesy, she took her fans by surprise. Anyone who's had the pleasure of listening to a Courtesy DJ set knows she plays fast techno, trance and sped-up house. It's euphoric, and you often feel lighter afterwards. But when it came to production, rather than distilling her high-energy DJ sound into dance floor tracks, she made ambient music instead. What she calls "ambient trance" doubles down on the elements that make trance euphoric—sparkly melodies and spiralling synth work—without the pumping kick drums underneath.
On her debut album, fra eufori (Danish for "from euphoria"), Vestbirk is still focused on ambient trance, but this time she applies it to some of the most beloved trance and Eurodance songs of the last few decades. She first hinted at this direction on Violence Of The Moodboard, where she reinterpreted LSG's 1994 classic "Hearts." But to make a whole LP of the stuff—a debut album, nonetheless—is almost shocking. Given the calibre of the hits she covers, from the '80s through to the '00s, it was always going to be a hard concept to land, and the record that results is an uneven journey studded with emotional highlights.
On or off the dance floor, the familiar riffs and lyrics of these songs have the power to spark special connections or trigger bittersweet memories. So what does Vestbirk add? Any great cover should elevate or recontextualize an original, not just regurgitate it, which she achieves on her versions of Olive's "You're Not Alone"—with Erika de Casier—and Chicane's "Saltwater" (with Lyra Pramuk). Olive's famous opening lines, "In a way, it's all / A matter of time / I will not worry for you / You'll be just fine," were already chilling, but in Vestbirk's version, the delay on de Casier's dulcet voice takes it up a notch. The haunting feeling is only underlined by Vestbirk's delicate synth work and August Rosenbaum's fluttering keys in the final third. It recreates euphoric trance's lump-in-the-throat emotional tug, but in an entirely new context.
The cover of Madonna's "What It Feels Like For A Girl," with vocalist Sophie Joe, is another stellar moment. Vestbirk's version leans more towards Above & Beyond's remix, which soundtracked the original's controversial music video and only keeps the chorus and the memorable monologue (originally spoken by Charlotte Gainsbourg). "Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short / Wear shirts and boots / 'Cause it's okay to be a boy / But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading / Cause you think that being a girl is degrading / But secretly, you'd love to know what it's like, wouldn't you?" When Madonna's original came out back in 2001, her lyrics were considered a feminist take and, over 20 years later, the lyrics resonate even more strongly in a world where violence and rhetoric against trans people is on the rise. Vestbirk's production adds a tear-smudged blur to an already impressionistic song.
As you might expect from such a risky gambit, not all of the covers are as brilliant. Vestbirk's version of Lasgo's "Something"—a track that shows up regularly in her DJ sets—feels more like a version you might hear in a shop because they didn't pay to play the original. The chord stabs are flat, the production is uneven and doesn't match Sophie Joe's soulful vocals, worlds away from the bouncy magic of the original. Her covers of Enya's "Boadicea" and "Orinoco Flow," with Swedish vocalist Merely, are merely perfunctory. Both tracks originally had an ambient feel to them, after all. And though Merely's silky voice glides gorgeously on "Orinoco Flow," Vestbirk's take lacks the submerged, watercolour feel that made the original so memorable.
It's brave for an artist of Vestbirk's stature to change tack so dramatically. It paid off with Night Journeys, because you could still hear her distinct musical voice even in that new context. It was sincere and original. Throughout her career, Vestbirk has always discussed herself as an artist, not just a DJ or party-starter. As we've seen with her label Kulør, where she pairs contemporary trance and techno tracks with the artwork of contemporary painters, photographers, sculptors and designers, dance music is just another form of art for her. That considered, fra eufori feels more like another artistic experiment rather than the long-awaited debut album that it is. An LP composed entirely of covers is an unexpected move from a superstar DJ, to say the least, and it isn't without its stumbles. When it works, though, the results are admirable, and you can hear Vestbirk's genuine love for the music shine through.
Tracklist01. You're Not Alone feat. Erika de Casier & August Rosenbaum
02. Saltwater feat. Lyra Pramuk
03. Something feat. Sophie Joe & August Rosenbaum
04. Boadicea feat. Merely
05. Infinity 1990 feat. Francesca Burattelli
06. What It Feels Like for a Girl feat. Sophie Joe
07. Orinoco Flow feat. Merely
08. I See Right Through To You feat. Sophie Joe