Ivan Pedersen and Nanna Larsen deliver heartfelt americana in Denmark
On 24 September, Ivan Pedersen and Nanna Larsen brought their blend of pop-rock and americana to Folkekirkens Hus in Aalborg, Denmark. With two albums, “Fortunate” and “Go With Grace”, behind them, the duo had plenty of material to draw from, combining carefully crafted songs with strong vocals, thoughtful lyrics and the close musical interplay that has become characteristic of their collaboration.
After 60 years as a highly active musician, songwriter and, not least, singer, Ivan Pedersen impressively still has an appetite for much more. More songs. More lyrics. More anecdotes. With Nanna Larsen, he has found quite a musical partner. They suit each other well, their voices suit each other even better, and they are also absolutely brilliant at creating rather catchy pop-rock melodies with greater depth. Together, they have recorded and released 20 songs on two albums, “Fortunate” and “Go With Grace”, and 14 of them were performed when they played to a sold-out hall at Folkekirkens Hus in Aalborg. Here, they showed all their strengths: the solid, well-crafted melodies, the carefully considered lyrics and a couple of fine, fully accomplished voices. All carried by a convivial atmosphere and good energy. There is quite a distance between the many, quickly digested pop hits of everyday life and the solid singer-songwriter-driven Americana style practised by Nanna Larsen and Ivan Pedersen.
Some influences are easier to spot than others, and a song such as “You Are the One” – shaped around the words a newlywed bride would most like to hear – is remarkably close to the style of the Eagles and could surely fit nicely into their repertoire. Throughout the evening, the duo’s spirited songs provided more than ordinarily good entertainment, filled with intimacy and strongly supported by guitarists Jimmy Guldbæk and Mikkel Grue, who seemed to find a new expression – or an exciting and different solo – for every song. For the duo, the content is clearly important. The lyrics are about something. About moving on after a breakup. About choosing sides in the event of war. About confronting loneliness. And about being busy taking advantage of other people’s achievements. Among much else.
All 14 songs – and an additional encore in the form of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” – were delivered in an extremely pleasantly relaxed atmosphere, with room for little explanations and anecdotes. Such as when Ivan Pedersen announced that he never sang at weddings and funerals, because “I cannot sing when I can see that others are moved”. And the two weddings at which he nevertheless – despite his principles – did sing both ended in divorces, so “it is simply not worth it”.
