Danish singer/songwriter Chase Rivers releases autobiographical first single 'Small Town' from forthcoming debut album

With inspiration from a year-long journey around Europe and musical roots in American 1970s singer-songwriter tradition, Danish singer and songwriter Chase Rivers aka Troels Mynster debuts with the album 'Head In The Clouds' on August 30, 2024. The album's ten personal songs revolve around being human in an accelerating culture, where one can easily lose connection to other people, nature, and something greater than oneself. Today sees the release of the album's first single 'Small Town' of which Troels Mynster says:

"Small Town" is a personal song about reflecting on where you come from. It's an acknowledgment that everything you learned, dreamed about, and fled from as a child forms your strengths and weaknesses as an adult.”

Troels Mynster has assembled a skilled live band, and on the album release day, August 30th, Chase Rivers will play a show at Råhuset in Copenhagen. Tickets can be purchased HERE.

Chase Rivers is both a band name and an artist name, and behind it Troels Mynster, who has been an active singer, songwriter, and guitarist for many years, both solo and in various band contexts. A few years ago, Troels Mynster stopped playing in bands and began writing songs for others, and he has written several songs found in various songbooks.

In addition to his musical work, Troels Mynster works as a teacher, and like most people in the modern world, the busy everyday life with work, relationships, three young children, and a packed schedule is the reality he and his loved ones find themselves in. A couple of years ago, a feeling of being trapped in the rat race started to emerge, along with a longing to get closer to nature with time and peace to reflect on what truly matters in life.

In 2022, Troels Mynster and his family made the decision to fulfill their dreams, and in July of the same year, he and his family set off on a year-long journey around Europe in a caravan, which became both their home, school, and workplace. The long journey gave the family the opportunity to pause in life and observe our society and modern life from a distance, inspiring Troels Mynster to write new songs along the way.

When Troels Mynster and his family returned home to Denmark in 2023, he brought with him a collection of new songs that were too good to remain in the suitcase. He contacted producer Jens Benz (Iceage, Bisse, Power Solo), who helped unfold the songs and record basic tracks with a group of musicians in his studio in Valby. After seven months of work and Benz's final mixing and mastering, the ten songs on the debut album 'Head In The Clouds' were completed.

Musically, 'Head In The Clouds' exudes strong melodies and dynamic instrumentation, echoing the great American singer-songwriters of the early 1970s, where solid songwriting was mainstream. The foundation is "the good song" dressed in a warm, analog west coast folk-rock sound, and the music has a timeless, thoughtful, and melancholic tone, where the lyrics unfold their meaning in a detailed, melodic, and hand-played sound universe.

Lyrically, 'Head In The Clouds' is based on the Mynster family's journey, experiences, and reflections, and has become a personal response to a growth- and individual-based society, where many feel stressed, lonely, and disconnected. The songs are at once personal and universal, with existential themes about living and existing; about freedom, hope, despair, love, and a longing for greater meaning.