Do You Want Us To Play? (studio album) by She's A Sailor

"Do You Want Us to Play?" is the first album from the Danish group She’s a Sailor. Since 2016, the group has released one EP and a string of digital singles, several of which have done very well on DR's (Danish National Radio) weekly singles charts. Especially their debut single "Beautiful" and the sequel "Back From the Sky" helped giving the group access to many of the larger venues in Denmark.
This new album, which the group has been working on for the past 2-3 years, is the first time there is a physical release from the group and the album is available on both CD and vinyl.
The album opens with the title song "Do You Want Us to Play?", A song that for several years has also opened their live performances and which is part of a "Rain & Circus" theme, which the group returns to on other songs. It's a rolling circus song, and you can almost hear the carousels and the wheels of fortune spinning in the background. At live performances, the song would often be followed by "Come on", which is thematically a continuation of the circus theme.
On the album, however, the group's latest single "Some Space for Me" has been chosen as the sequel; at the time of writing, the song is doing very well on DR's weekly P5 chart. "Some Space for Me" is a catchy Brit-pop inspired song, which perhaps may lead associations towards one of the group's musical inspirators, The Divine Comedy.
On the surface, the third song, "For You" may look like a classic love song, but in reality it is about succumbing to mental illnesses such as panic disorder. A theme the group has personal experience with and which is also addressed later on the album via "Panic Attack". "For You" is a dramatical slightly experimental rock number with great guitar playing, presumably played by the group's producer Lars Skjaerbaek. An obvious choice for a new single.
"Broken Heart" is a moving song about daring to take chances with love; a great melody that hardly will leave many eyes dry. An absolute highlight.
As the title suggests, "All I Wanna Do is Dance" is a different and easier affair. Musically related to the group's biggest hit "Beautiful", and obviously another single topic. Despite the light and catchy melody, however, there is a great element of nostalgia and a longing for bygone times, a theme which another inspirator Ray Davies of the Kinks often deals with.
The aforementioned "Panic Attack" is the second song on the theme of anxiety. A quiet moving number, where you can, enjoy evocative trumpet playing from Hans Christian Erbs, who throughout the album helps to create a special atmosphere. Although She’s a Sailor is actually a duo consisting of Thomas Albrechtsen and Jesper Vindberg, Erbs on trumpet and percussion is a regular part of the group’s live line-up and he contributes on most of this album’s tracks. Bassist Jacob Klitgaard and drummer Morten Hyldahl are also often regulars in the live-band and both perform throughout "Do You Want Us to Play?".
Side 2 of the vinyl version opens with the previously released single "You're a Star", mixed by Swede Michael Ilbert, who has worked with big names such as Cardigans, Roxette and Travis. It is one of the album's heavier tracks, with a heavy beat and lots of aural space, almost a stadium sound. Like pretty much every song on the album this is a melodic catchy composition.
"Rain and Circus" is the key song in the group's previously mentioned circus theme. A number that for some years has been a favourite in the group's live repertoire. The song tells the slightly sad story of the clown who on a rainy morning in his circus wagon in eastern Poland wakes up dreaded how to get through the day's program. However, a few glasses of cheap port wine will help bring him through. The song has previously been out on a single; here, however, it is a completely new recording.
The melancholic "Fools Like Us" is also an early song, for which the group has finally found the final form. Could easily become a future live favorite.
"I Miss You So" is an upbeat song that was originally out as a single in 2018, where it brought the group back on DR's charts. This album version is newly remixed. Thematically, the song is about the fear and separation which war always brings with it.
The album ends nicely with the quiet and fine "My Miss Right", a heartfelt love song.
A very promising debut album from She’s a Sailor, which hopefully will give the group a deservedly bigger breakthrough, so they can continue relasing more of the fine songs that they have entertained with on various Danish stages over the past 4-5 years. Maybe even with room for a few of their fine cover-renditions like "Handbags and Gladrags" (Mike D'Abo), "She's Electric" (Oasis), "Flowers in the Window" or "This Will Be Our Year" (The Zombies)