Step into the curious, poetic world of composer and producer Nils Lassen whose decades-spanning career has quietly shaped the sonic edges of theatre and film. His magic touch can be found in more than twenty international albums under various aliases. Yet for this Copenhagen musician, Fingerprints marks his first official solo debut, which is an introspective, genre-blurring tribute to life, memory, loss and presence. True to his own approach to life, this album strikes a rare balance between mythic grandness and intimate details, allowing listeners to find magic in both the big picture and small moments. Fingerprints also features contributions from long-time collaborators like Tomas Ortved, Anders Wallin and Marianne van Toornburg. For On The Record, we talk to Nils Lassen about his creative journey, the influence of his late grandmother, the paradox behind “going nowhere”, and what it means to leave behind emotional evidence in the form of sound.
Welcome to Unrecorded! For those who aren’t already familiar with Nils Lassen, can you introduce yourself?
I’m a self-taught composer, producer, artist from the cold and windy streets of Copenhagen, Denmark I ‘graduated’ from the ‘Royal school of Copenhagen Punks’ in the 80’s 😉 and since then I have composed music for theatre, feature films, TV shows, children’s music and even an adult movie soundtrack for Lars von Triers company to mention a few.
In between all this I must have made around 20 international albums under different names and aliases. Especially BlackieBlueBird is worth a checkout!
Fingerprints is your solo debut after a decades-long career in music, so what finally made this the right moment to step out on your own?
What a very good question, and I really don’t know, but it just felt like it was the right thing to do. I operate by gut feeling first and then the intellect will follow.
I guess, I needed to do something in my own name – just be sure I exist somehow.
You describe the record as an affirmation of presence, can you expand on what that means to you personally?
More than just catchy or beautiful, this album means something. The album’s title is a metaphor for the tracks people leave behind – tangible evidence of presence and connection in an ever-changing and estranging world. The music is about remembering who we are, what we’ve been through, and how we move forward together. It’s a call to feel, to care, and to notice the things that make us human. It’s a reminder that even in a fast and forgetful world where everything is for sale, we leave signs of our love, our struggles, and our stories; fingerprints that stand as proof of our existence. You are something in yourself just by being born!
The title of the opening song ‘going nowhere, and I hope to get there soon’ immediately caught our attention. Where did that phrase come from?
It’s proudly homemade! 😉 It’s a paradoxical quote and I guess it fits into the answer below about ‘the infinitely small and the infinitely large’ – please check it out…
What role did collaboration play in shaping the final sound, especially with Tomas Ortved, Anders Wallin and Marianne van Toornburg?
I have been working with all three of them in different projects before, so I guess we have a safe space together with a lot of trust. They have all been very generous with their talents. Tomas Ortved is a top ace drummer with a cv too big to mention here. Both Marianne van Toornburg and Anders Wallin are experienced backing singers as well as solo artists, so all of those wellcrafted ooohs and aaahs became a really huge part of the big sound I like. I hope I get to work with them all again on the next album!
Many songs evoke both an intimate humanness and ethereal mythicism. How do you balance those layers in your songwriting?
There once was a Danish professor and writer called Georg Brandes, who was a big european scholar in the late part of the 19th century. (He was a big promoter of Nietzsche). He believed that any good work of art had to contain ‘the infinitely small and the infinitely large’, like for example ‘how much sugar to put in my coffee while looking at the sun and getting blinded by its vastness’.
‘Close Those Ocean Eyes’ has been called a “sonic painting.” What emotions or visuals were you aiming to capture with that track?
The sea is always a fascinating topic, that never stops to give. It began with the title, that came from I don’t know where?! And then I just channeled into ‘The Odyssey’ and ‘Moby Dick’ etc without being too concrete in quotations. If I were a painter, it would be my take on a Turner painting, without sounding too pretentious…;)
What does ‘The Miracle in May’ represent within the narrative arc of the album?
Though not as widely talked about yet, it adds a fresh sense of hope to the album. It’s a song about new beginnings, holding onto wonder, and finding light even in everyday life. Like spring after a long winter, this song brings a gentle sense of rebirth. We all need some catharsis sometimes and ‘The Miracle in May are meant to do that to the listener.
As your first solo work, does this project feel more vulnerable? If so, how did you navigate that openness?
We all have an obligation to expand and develop as humans, so this is my contribution for the year 2025…. But it has been a vulnerable process indeed – a balance between nervous breakdowns and illusions of grandeur twice a day! 😉
What do you hope listeners take away after experiencing Fingerprints?
I want the songs to be ‘headnodders’ as opposed to ‘headbangers’. A discreet movement of the foot together with a quiet uplifting smile would make my day anytime…;)
You can also find title-track ‘Fingerprints’ in our Outsiders Club playlist.
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