Meet Marie Dahlstrøm, the velvet voice behind R&B jam "Crashing Down"

The young Dane has been making soulful music since the release of her debut EP back in 2011, and most recently released a mini-album of covers titled The Renditions featuring Dahlstrøm's take on songs by Bon Iver, Phil Collins and Rihanna. This month, though, she's back with one of her own tracks, "Crashing Down". Finger-clicking percussion gives way to smooth beats and gliding synths, a pristine base for Dahlstrøm's honeyed tones to beguile and seduce the listener while warning of the perils of wanting to have your cake, and eat it.

We spoke to Dahlstrøm recently to talk more about "Crashing Down", and her development as an artist.

Hi Marie, how are you feeling now that "Crashing Down" is out in the world?

“Yeah, it’s been really good. It’s been a while since I released one of my own songs so it feels really good.”

Of course, because your last release was a covers record; what was the thinking behind doing that?

“I don’t really know how that happened, it was really weird! I was in contact with some people who said I should try and do a cover one day. I hadn’t ever been keen on doing a cover and doing it exactly how the artist would do it, I would definitely want to make them my own and add my own creative touch to it. So it wasn’t about defining me, it was more about letting people know how I would do it.”

I spent some time listening to your music from the start up to the present, and it sounds like you've taken a path from something very much in the jazz and soul field to something a bit more R&B...

“Jazz and soul is the kind of music I listen to all the time, along with 90s R&B – that’s my main repertoire! When I started doing my own music I was fascinated by the whole neo-soul movement: Erykah Badu, Jill Scott – all the classic hits from them. At that point I was also still doing my degree in contemporary music so I had a lot of jazz there, I practiced the piano and I was way more of a muso then! I mean, I still am but because I was in school we had to play all day long. I liked listening to music that was difficult to create.”

How do you approach writing; do you like to work on your own?

“I always write on my own, but I often produce with other people. ‘Crashing Down’ is produced by Joe Garrett and mixed by Qmillion. That song was one where Joe had a beat already and it just happened really quick. I think we had it finished in a few hours…it was one of those songs that just came naturally when you have the right beat and you’re in the right zone. It was one of those days when I had been thinking about a lot of things; I’m also studying my Masters [Cognitive Neuroscience of Music at Goldsmiths] and juggling a lot of things…"

Was it a conscious move to try something a bit further away from jazz and soul?

"It wasn’t a deliberate move to change the style. From the beginning I’ve liked both styles, but I’ve explored jazz and now I’m exploring the other side!”

You are also one half of Hans Island...can you tell us a bit more about that?

“Hans Island is me and a guy from Canada, Mawhs. We started working together in 2014 when I got some of his beats, and everything I got from him I could write to. It was easy! He does things exactly the way I would do them. It’s so natural and so nice, so we decided to make it a joint project. All the songs we wrote we’ve used for the EP. We’re going to continue to work together, and it’s nice…because we’ve never met!”

That's an interesting way to work - it would certainly avoid any studio arguments...

“When you find someone you work well with, arguments rarely happen. I must say it’s been really easy and we’ve managed to get things moving really quick…it’s going to be interesting to see what happens next. It’s really funny, he was just in London and the few days he was here I was back in Denmark! I think someday, perhaps, we’ll make music in the same room.”

So what's next for you in 2016?

“I am in the process of creating just a lot of songs. I’m not sure if this is gonna be for an album or something else, but there are a lot of songs. My first step is to do a full EP with the themes I’ve explored for ‘Look the Other Way’ and ‘Crashing Down’, and after that I’m not quite sure…but definitely music!”