Poptones release their second album Pure out now via Happy Metal Records
Listen / buy Pure HERE
Poptones by Rune Gro-Nielsen
Danish experimental rock trio Poptones today release their anticipated second album Pure, available digitally and on vinyl via Happy Metal Records. Out now, the 12-track record finds the band pushing deeper into improvisation, collaboration, and fearless genre-splicing. Alongside the album release the band also share the album’s focus track “17 Hours”.
Written and developed across Copenhagen, India, Italy, and even the house where former Danish Prime Minister Jens Otto Krag passed away, Pure is a collision of intuition and design. The record mixes solo-composed sketches with group improvisations, later sculpted into their final form.
Across its runtime, Pure shifts fluidly between prog-rock, hardcore, indie, and avant-rock. Saxophone, vibraphone, lap steel, and screams weave into the traditional rock framework of bass, drums, guitar, and voice – stretching Poptones’ sound into expansive and unpredictable new territory.
The record was captured with Peter Emil Sloth, mixed by Jens Ramon, and mastered by E.T. Master. Saxophonist Oscar Alstrup appears throughout the album, while hardcore vocalist Victor Kaas (EYES, LLNN) lends his ferocious presence to “Mirror World”. The post-composed improvisations “Asleep” and “Eyes Closed” feature vibraphonist Rémy Gouffault and guitarist Harald Ingvarsson.
For Poptones, Mads Bertelsen (vocals/bass), Simon Hiemstra (guitar), and Anders Poulsen (drums), Pure represents both continuity and expansion. Friends since childhood, the trio began writing music together on Denmark’s windswept west coast before honing their boundary-pushing approach at Copenhagen’s Rhythmic Music Conservatory. Their debut, Between Darkness & Daylight (2022), introduced a band unafraid of detours. Pure builds on that spirit, but with sharper instincts, bolder contrasts, and an even wider palette.
Watch the video for “17 Hours” below.
Speaking on their album and its release, Simon Hiemstra said, “Pure is an album that exists both as a collection of different ideas and as a cohesive, connected piece. Each song kinda grew out of different ideas, drawing inspiration from a long list of musical sources, genres, and methods. We feel that they collectively are telling the story of a decade of exploration as a band.”
“Pure is the result of us giving in to strange ideas, following our intuition, and being open to experimentation with new instruments and ways of composing as Poptones. We are very proud of the result and feel that it’s an honest reflection of who we are as a band and the journey we have been on together, while still holding on to the root of our music; the blend of chaos, beauty and the space in between.”
Pure is available to listen to everywhere and order HERE
Pure album artwork
Tracklist
Skin of Sea
Say Something Now
This Will Be a Good Day
Asleep
Mirror World (feat. Victor Kaas)
O of Life
Narrow Streets
17 Hours
Thin Air
I Am Here
Hypnagogic State
Eyes Closed
Pure by Poptones is out now via Happy Metal Records.
Listen / order Pure HERE