SoftWave: ‘Souvenir’ reviewed

❉ Danish synthpop duo’s new cover of “Souvenir” after a successful support tour with OMD in February.

SoftWave are a Danish synthpop duo who were described by Jo Callis (ex The Human League) as having “a pure and clean electro sound with a cool techno edge”.  They were formed in 2014 by band members Catrine Christensen and Jerry Olsen.

SoftWave released their debut-EP Together Alone 2016 without any prior knowledge about the music industry, but with their huge ambitions of becoming a popular synthpop band in their native Denmark and across Europe, they followed their hearts nonetheless.

OMD souvenir tour – Support: SoftWave, Feb 12, 2020, Store VEGA. Photo by Dag Stinus

They have gathered momentum since their first full-length album‘Game On’ was released to critical acclaim, and reached Number 9 in the German Electronic Web Chart, when electronic pioneers OMD invited them to open the Scandinavian leg of their Souvenir Greatest Hits tour in February 2020OMD have sold an astonishing 25 million singles and 15 million albums, which has established them as electronic synthesizer innovators, and one of Britain’s best-loved pop groups.

More recently SoftWave have produced a Scandi cover of the song Souvenir, which was originally a hit for OMD in 1981 and featured on their highly acclaimed album Architecture and Morality.  SoftWave’s cover offers a re-worked version with a European sensibility and the video has a carefree vibe.

Jerry Olsen (SoftWave) with Andy McCluskey (OMD), Feb 12, 2020, Store VEGA. Photo by Dag Stinus

Their next project is a CD Remix release due out in October 2020, and supported by Sonic Seducer Magazine followed by ‘Game On1Up’ released on CD in November 2020 to include ‘Live at Rockefeller’ audio recording, released by Electro-Shock-Records.

We look forward to watching the rest of their synthpop journey and where it takes SoftWave next.  Watch this space!


❉ SoftWave – ‘Souvenir’ (OMD cover) is released on YouTube August 14, 2020 and digitally September 11, 2020. 

❉ Ange Chan is a freelance writer, having produced two novels and six volumes of poetry.  She was also prolific in the anthology collection Me and the Starman, (now available by Cult Ink on Amazon) and is a lifelong lover of music, having first been published in the 1980s music press. As well as being a frequent contributor to the pop culture website We Are Cult, she is working on her long-standing third novel Champagne Flutes and Pixie Boots.

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