Ida Wenøe

“Bewitching acid folk with a deeply personal edge” – Clash Magazine

Amongst a digital mountain range littered with accomplished folk-ish bands and singersongwriters, it is a rare miracle to come across a cave so rich in jewels as the one beneath Ida Wenøe’s ribcage.

While she has an obvious appreciation of Americana, her sound is very definitely laced with more English undertones: the kind of sound Edward Woodward might have heard downstairs in the local inn had the Wicker Man been filmed in a remote Danish village, while Sarah Lund scoured for clues in her jumper. Like the best of the Nordic Noir leaving the Danish mainland, the recordings are at once both sonically pure and grimy; there’s a shared loneliness that makes you feel that you’re not at all; and all the while there is an honesty to the songwriting that tugs at your sleeve. While her grasp of English is second nature, there’s some of those intriguing turns of phrase that only a heart that dreams in another language can weave: “The deep conceals things that are real/ look beyond the mirror/look beyond the mirror” , “I know we see things differently/as long as it’s not separately” and “You’re a fish in a bottle/a cock in a coop/the essence of trying…”

Sure, she has the usual credible influences from Vashti to Joni, from Neil Young to Danish folk hero Sebastian; and there’s hints of Sandy Denny and Linda Perhacs. But to list artists she sounds like would be to miss the point entirely. As anyone who has witnessed a live show can attest, Ida Wenøe is very definitely Ida Wenøe. As Carsten Holm at Danish Radio P6 Beat put it,
“she has an icy, almost Icelandic timbre. I haven’t heard this in any other Danish artist… an incredibly strong vocal…” God Is In The TV Zine went on to say her voice “boasts angelic notes which can often leak her endearing Danish roots…”

After ending her successful band Boho Dancer in 2014 Wenøe ́s debut album “Time of Ghosts” came out in The Nordic Countries in 2015 through Songcrafter Music. The music created lot of attention and the following year Ida played showcases and concerts in Denmark, Sweden, USA, England, Germany, Switzerland, The Faroe Islands and Poland. She was nominated for a Danish Music Award as “Folk Songwriter of the Year” and her music was used in DR (National TV) documentary “De Smukke Piger”.

A showcase concert at Tonder Festival lead to a collaboration with UK booking agency BlueHouse Music, who set up a very successful trio tour with Ida and her band The Silver Cords in the UK in 2016. I February 2017 Wenøe played Folk Alliance in Kansas City for the second time, and found new exciting collaborators for a future US release.

On April 7th 2017 “Time of Ghosts” will be released in the UK through Shellshock Distribution / The Orchard. Ida will be returning in April for a full UK tour.

Press Quotes – Ida Wenøe
“… a childlike fragility that makes the songs sound like whimsical folk for fairy tales with a sinister undertow. Her voice – weary but cute, with the power to cut through – is perfect; she sounds like the young narrator of her own magical-malevolent fantasies…”
The Guardian

“Bewitching acid folk with a deeply personal edge.”
Clash Magazine

“Both calming and uplifting, Ida seems to have perfected the knack of making even the loneliest listener feel understood, validated and less alone.”
Wonderland Magazine

Threads of loneliness run through her yearning vocal, lamenting over and over “I miss you now / Like I missed you then”. There’s something chilling about Wenøe’s work, suggesting the intriguing singer-songwriter knows things you don’t, and perhaps never will.
The Line Of Best Fit

“… the sort of voice that could punch through a cloud of custard and pierce thick air… she delicately rips through… with eyes full of hope…”
Songwriting Magazine

It’s been a long time since I’ve heard an artist perfectly capture the distinctive sound of late ’80s/early ’90s folk-pop—that kind of glassy glaze that cuts right to your core—but Danish singer/songwriter Ida Wenøe has done just that with her emotionally-charged and uplifting new album Time Of Ghosts. And as great as the full LP is, this listener keeps returning again and again to the Jane Siberry-like title track.”
Nordic Spotlight