Under Byen – Their Biography

Formed in Aarhus, Denmark, 1995

Katrine Stochholm, piano, vocals; Henriette Sennenvaldt, vocals; Morten Larsen, drums; Anders Stochholm, harmonica, percussion; Nils Grøndahl, violin, electrical distorted saw; Myrtha Wolf, cello; Sara Saxild, bass; Thorbjørn Krogshede, piano.

1999: Kyst (PladeSelskabet – Have A Cigar)

2002: Det Er Mig Der Holder Træerne Sammen (PladeSelskabet – Have A Cigar)

With Sennenvaldt’s delicate and dreamy, challenging lyrics, Under Byen creates an extremely varied and spider web-like sophisticated and yet hardwearing expression, branded by a rarely seen musical sensibility with a characteristic use of strings, piano and percussion. In lack of better comparisons Under Byen was after their first official release (“Kyst”, 1999) compared to artist such as Icelandic Björk and Swedish Stina Nordenstam, although these comparisons couldn’t deny the fact that Under Byen didn’t sound like any of the above mentioned.

During a bike-ride in 1995, the two friends Katrine Stochholm and Henriette Sennenvaldt got the idea to form Under Byen. Since the age of 13 they had been exchanging lyrics and music. It didn’t take them long to gather musicians for the project; to begin with Morten Larsen, drums, Anders Stochholm, harmonica, percussion, Anders Præstegaard, bas, guitar, Anna Budtz, cello, Poul Rørkenfelt, violin and with this line-up the band played their debut concert in the Cultural House of Aarhus suburb, Hinnerup, in the spring of 1996.

In January 1997, Budtz and Rørkenfelt were replaced by Nils Grøndahl, violin and saw, and in October the same year Under Byen recorded three tracks which were released on the EP, “Puma” (“Puma”), a CD-EP only sold at live shows. On this record one could already tell the outline of the band’s unique talent. Jacob Kullberg played cello on this release but was replaced by Myrtha Wolf, cello, in November the same year.

In the beginning of 1998, Under Byen received tour support from ROSA – the Danish Rock Council, however, the band decided instead to spend the money on recording the single “Veninde i Vinden” (“Friend in the Wind”), in the Feedback Studio in Aarhus. This turned out to be a wise decision: the song was put on rotation on the Danish National Radio and was furthermore put on the compilations Unsigned From Denmark (ROSA) and Starsearch 6 (FAJABEFA). The single also got the band a gig at the annual event Aarhus Cultural Night and the festivals Luxorama and SPOT 05. At the latter gig Sara Saxild, bass, replaced Præstegaard. For a short period of time the band was looking for a new guitarist but finally decided that they would be better off without.

In the beginning of 1999 the band received financial aid from the council of Aarhus and decided to go to the Atrium Studios in Stochholm to work with producer Manne von Ahn Öberg, whom Under Byen got to know from his work on Stina Nordenstam’s album “Dynamite”. This collaboration resulted in a 3-song demo.

Being back in Aarhus Under Byen performed at the local venue Train in April. The concert was being recorded by the National Radio and broadcasted a month later. Among the attendants at the concert was Steffen Brandt from the popular Danish mainstream band TV-2. The very same evening he signed Under Byen as the first band to be released on the newly started record company PladeSelskabet – Have A Cigar. In May Under Byen ended the Aarhus Cultural Night by doing a 20 minute long first performance of a composition made especially for a light performance made by the band’s preferred light engineer, John “Skaeg”.

During August and September 1999 the band recorded the debut album “Kyst” with Öberg as producer (who, due to contractual reasons, is giving credit as JazzBeat Production on the cover artwork). In October the single “G' Ind I Lyset” was sent out to radio stations and the following month the debut album “Kyst” was well received with almost unanimously ecstatic critics.

One of the critics regarded the album as “the most original Danish compositions since Carl Nielsen”, while other critics wrote that one will talk about “Danish music before and after Under Byen”. The impressive reviews weren’t followed by great numbers of sold CDs though, still the band was nominated for a Danish Music Award for “Best Upcoming Band” and “Kyst” was selected as “Album of the Year” by one of the Danish papers.

Gradually Katrine Stochholm started to feel an increasing dislike for performing live and was at live shows replaced by Thorbjørn Krogshede, piano, hammond, who debuted in Copenhagen in October 1999. Katrine Stochholm plays now and then with the band in Denmark. During 2000 the band played at major Danish festivals and in the winter 2000 a vinyl-only mini album “Remix” was released (Mangel P' Ilt) on which selected songs from “Kyst” were covered by among others Thomas Knak, Morten Remmer, Sofus K. and Jacob Berthelsen.

In 2001 Under Byen only played one show – at an art museum in Silkeborg – spending most of their time focusing on the follow up to “Kyst”. The recordings of their second album began in August this time with Jacob Berthelsen and the band itself as producers. For a modest fee the band got the chance to record at Feedback Studios (Aarhus) whenever the studio is available. Hence the work on the second album took place till the end of January the following year. The result of the efforts was being released on April 2nd 2002 as “Det Er Mig Der Holder Træerne Sammen”. This record both supports and expands the band’s unique compositional understanding this time with a subtle yet marked use of electronic means.

In May 2002 the band was invited to Prague to do a show supported financially by the Danish Rock Council and The Danish Embassy in Prague. This was the first concert the band did outside of Denmark. At the end of the same month the band played at the annual SPOT-festival in their hometown Aarhus. Rolling Stone senior editor David Fricke saw the band’s performance and was, in his own words, “left speaking in tongues”. In December he picked out “Det Er Mig Der Holder Træerne Sammen” as one of the best 10 albums of the year and referred to Under Byen as his favorite band of 2002. In 2003 Fricke once again attended the SPOT-festival this time introducing the band.

Eventually the interest in the band started to grow outside of Denmark. Howe Gelb of Giant Sand spent the summer 2002 in Aarhus and went to see Under Byen at a local venue. This meeting let to the collaboration, which can be heard on Gelb’s solo album “The Listener” (2003, Thrill Jockey) where Under Byen is backing band on 6 songs and 1 tune where Henriette Sennenvaldt sings duet with Gelb.

In 2003 Under Byen was chosen to represent Danish music in Germany as part of the Danish Rock Council’s project Skand-all. In March 2003 the band played shows in Hamburg, Berlin and Dresden and, as a result of this mini-tour, was booked to play at the prestigious German festival, Haldern.

In the spring of 2003 the hard-working band also found time to compose for an inter-aesthetic theatre performance PortPolis, – a show partly inspired by the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice – and make the score to the Danish movie “2 Ryk og En Aflevering” (soundtrack released on BirdHitsPlane, 2003).

(Text translated from “Politikens Guide Til Dansk Rock” red. Torben Bille, 2002. Henrik Queitsch originally wrote the chapter about Under Byen.)