photo credit: Anders Rhedin

Dinner, the project from Danish multi-instrumentalist Anders Rhedin, premieres the Annabel Van Royen-directed music video for “Connection,” (featuring vocals from Molly Burch) the second single from Dinner’s new album Dream Work, due for release October 22nd on Captured Tracks. 

The track opens with an organic-sounding, lightly-phased synth pad that evokes hazy rays of morning sun breaking through an overcast sky, before arpeggiated guitar, drum and bass enter to support it. Rhedin’s baritone voice is not the most flashy instrument, but it carries an authentic vibe, as if your good friend or someone at an open mic were singing sincerely and intimately to you. The chorus, where Rhedin is joined by both a heavily-vibratoed lead guitar and the subtly ethereal backing vocals of Burch, is a pleasing, satisfying climax with a vibe halfway between 60s “groovy” and 2020s sheen. Rhedin walks a fine line here but the warm, three-dimensional production and the unfussy arrangement meld seamlessly.

The music video, meanwhile, goes for even more understated. Shot in a single location—a gently smoke-filled midcentury modern building in a sun-lit wood, a young woman in contemporary clothing alternately paces, plays with herself as if she’s a puppet, and flashes smiles for short moments before reverting to an expressionless visage. Regarding the video, director van Royen explains: "The video is a portrait of a young person expressing themselves with their body in the space and through connection with the viewer." Adds Rhedin: "I had many long talks with Annabel, the director. I thought I was going to be very involved with this video. But in the end, I just had to let go, and trust Annabel’s ideas and her vision. Let her creativity take over. I’m very glad that I did. To me the video is about a liminal state between reality and something else." Gabe Hernandez

Dinner, the synth pop project of Danish producer/vocalist Anders Rhedin, is a suave wanderer on the video for his latest single, "Siren Song." The Copenhagen via L.A. transplant gallivants to the night's natural rhythm with a coquettish demeanor, thinking about his pleasure-filled day as he flirts straight into the camera with his boyish, yet penetrating eyes. Rhedin is simply having fun with it, taking cues from the New Romantics who made the boys and girls swoon back in the golden age of MTV. 

"Siren Song" is taken from Dinner's recent second effort, New Work, which is out now via Captured Tracks. Get lost in his dreamy vision when he plays The Bootleg Theatre on October 1st. 

Hey! I actually got out of my house before 2! Progress, man. I suppose I stopped drinking early enough the night before that it made for a somewhat conventional nights' sleep, odd hours. I woke up to a barrage of text messages from last night. My phone had died and I was playing catch-up on my life while trying to make it to Baby's for the Captured Tracks unofficial day party. Jesus I think this thing's starting to take a toll on me. I'm uncharacteristically writing this on the fly, on my rejuvenated telephone, trying not to fall behind. Or asleep. - keep reasing JP Basileo's report of Day 3 of the CMJ Music Marathon 2014 (picture by Micah Weisberg)