I feel like the stages of recognizing that summer is finally over aren’t too dissimilar to those of grief—it slowly progresses from denial to depression to acceptance, although at the end of it there’s also a sense of gratitude for all the activities you were able to cram into a busy span of three months. This may not be the particular gratitude expressed on the new single from the Danish instrumental duo Bremer/McCoy, but the timing of its release—along with its visceral music video summing up a summer road trip—make a good case for “Gratitude” as the perfect soundtrack to stashing your shorts away for awhile.
“I wrote the main melody for the chorus of ‘Gratitude’ one late evening after a session in the studio,” pianist Morten McCoy explains. “I was just sitting and vibing, playing, reflecting on the day and then suddenly this melody just came to me out of nowhere, actually together with the baseline. And it came together with some simple words. I was singing in my head ‘Og jeg takker,’ which is basically ‘And I give thanks for that.’ That moment of time, that was just everything, the feeling of being in the universe, where there’s this loving energy, just very present, and the feeling of being humble and grateful for being able to sustain myself by doing what I love, and the feeling of being grateful to have such a nice family, friends around me. I was just very grateful and humbled by simply being in that moment of time.”
The single arrives ahead of the duo’s new LP Natten, which drops October 29 via Luaka Bop, and it further characterizes the instrumental jazz project as a minimal and meditative ambient soundtrack to unwind to after a long day—or a long summer—with “Gratitude” stripping things down to just piano and bass. Watch the video for the track below.
