Poptones – Pure (Happy Metal) – “Poptones is about building together, growing apart, and finding each other in a new and different light,” the band share. “Through childhood, teenage years, and now adulthood, we’ve lived together, made music together, and shaped each other as artists and people.”

Where were we? Drowning under a sea of e.mails from bands, record labels and their representatives and still recovering from last weekend’s excellent ArcTanGent festival, Danish experimental rock trio Poptones would fit well on an ArcTanGent bill, especially if they were to bring along Victor Kaas (from Eyes), maybe next year? They’re certainly a lot more original than their overused band name would suggest, the public image? Well I guess you get what you wanted. This, besides the name, is what we want, there’s a lot of to unpack with this new Poptones album, everything is a difference, they want to make a difference, a clear departure in tone, scale and colour, this is different (we’ve been listen to the album for seventeen or so hours now, I think we’re going back again, 17 Hours is a particularly beautiful piece of music).

None of Pure is obvious, and this first proper dive into the album reveals it as a rather beautiful body of work, there’s an ambition here and yes, a boldness in terms of a refined tone and scale. Pure is Poptones’ second full-length album, following 2022’s Between Darkness and Daylight. We’re told the new record was developed across several locations – Copenhagen, India, Italy and in a house in Northern Jutland. The album blends solo-composed sketches with collaborative improvisations crafted into fully formed pieces and a twelve track album that moves between things that touch upon an artful prog flavour or two, an occasional touch of not too aggressive hardcore, a refined indie feel along with a healthy nod towards notions of avant-rock, none of which is ever as obvious to indeed as disjointed as any of that list might make it sound. Poptones sound rather different actually, their songs are different, their details are different, refined pieces of music that feature both colourfully standard and non-traditional instrumentation. Refined is the word.

Mirror World sounds like two songs at the same time, both of them a little off-kilter, we’re talking extremes in terms of loud and quiet, it sounds like some very polite indie band being bullied by a studio-invading Extreme Noise Terror, it works, it works very well as one piece of music, it sounds very good! O of Life kind of repeats the idea in an even more colourfully challenging  way, Thin idea is delightfully floaty and if it was to be anyone’s first taste then they’d never imagine how much noise these delicately dreamy Poptones creatures could make when they choose. All this might give you the idea they don’t know who they are or what they want to do which really couldn’t be further from the truth, this is a band with a strong sense of musical identity, with a focus, a band with a distinct sound and feel and this is an excellent album.

Hang on, here comes some feedback and a strange bit of percussion or maybe some bizarre marching time as Eyes Closed takes us towards the end of proceedings in a deliciously colourful way that demands just jump on and play it all yet again. Say Something Now is thrilling, most of the album is experimentally easy on the ear – cleansing, refreshing, bright, alive, just different in a very intuitively rewarding way. The final track is really really something – “It was also our first dive into using instruments we hadn’t worked with before,” they continue. “Especially the outro pulled us toward a grander sound and opened up new ways of composing as Poptones.”  That sonic expansion introduced a new collaborator: “That dive introduced us to the vibraphone, slide guitar, and working with Oscar Alstrup on saxophone, who completely nailed an improvised solo for the outro. Since then, Oscar has played on almost all our songs and is now part of our live shows as well.”

Poptones are Mads Bertelsen (vocals/bass), Simon Hiemstra (guitar), and Anders Poulsen (drums), says here ‘they began making music together as teenagers in Denmark’s rural west coast. While the sound has evolved, their longstanding relationship remains central to their creative process. Their time at Copenhagen’s Rhythmic Music Conservatory (RMC) also played a significant role in refining their approach. Known for its emphasis on exploratory composition and peer-led critique, RMC has produced a wide network of artists pushing the boundaries of contemporary music. The band’s shared experience at the Conservatory deepened their collaborative instincts and broadened their compositional vocabulary – “Poptones is about building together, growing apart, and finding each other in a new and different light,” so the band say, “Through childhood, teenage years, and now adulthood, we’ve lived together, made music together, and shaped each other as artists and people.” All that does explain rather a lot, this is clearly not just group of people who answered an advert in the back of a music paper making it up as they go along and learn about each other, these people know where they’ve come from and what they’re doing, they know where they’re going. 

“The album includes a rather intense contribution from hardcore vocalist Victor Kaas (Eyes, LLNN) on Mirror World, as well as guest musicians Rémy Gouffault (vibraphone) and Harald Ingvarsson (guitar) on the fully improvised tracks Asleep and Eyes Closed. The record was recorded with Peter Emil Sloth, mixed by Jens Ramon, and mastered by E.T. Master.

Due for release on September 26th 2025, Pure is Poptones’ second full-length album. A first single from the album, the rather enticing opening track Skin of Sea has just been released, it will give you a little bit of an idea but nowhere near the whole picture, it probably is as mellow and jazzy as Poptones get on the rather impressive album. 

This is an album you need to uncork and let breath, it needs time, there are instant moments, Pure is an album that will reward you if you take the time to let it. A fine second album from the Danish band…   (sw)

Pre-order / pre-save Pure here or explore their Bandcamp.

A live version of an old track that isn’t on the album