In the 2010s, Denmark became home to a new breed of bands who took the rage and ferocity of punk rock and transformed it into something more polished and exacting, but no less powerful. But if bands like
Iceage
and
Lower
are reworking the frameworks of punk, Copenhagen's
Communions
are their new wave counterparts. 2017's
Blue
, the first full-length album from the
, is all clean lines, crisply processed drums, and cool, melodic guitar figures, suggesting they're a lost British band from the era when
the Cure
,
Echo and the Bunnymen
the Chameleons
, and
the Mighty Lemon Drops
held sway.
aim for a brighter, less gloomy sound than those acts, but the framework isn't especially different, and you could drop most tracks from
into a mix drawn from a late-'80s episode of 120 Minutes and most listeners would never be the wiser. This speaks to the skill of the band; in less than three years, they've evolved into an outfit that can play at the level of their influences, and write tunes that musically and lyrically point to influences of the past and attitudes of the present day. Lead vocalist
Martin Rehof
can sound passionate and yearning at once, while guitarist
Jacob van Deurs Formann
, bassist
Mads Rehof
(
Martin
's brother), and drummer
Frederik Lind Koeppen
perform with crisp professionalism, while producers
Mads Norgaard
Malte Fischer
capture them with a sound that's slick but not overbearing.
is an inarguably impressive full-length debut, and it highlights their ability to evoke the sound and mood of a particular time and place. ~ Mark Deming