Trinelise Væring - A Songwriter’s Odyssey (2025) Hi-Res

Danish singer-songwriter Trinelise Væring was no exception to the creative doubts brought about by lockdown. During those lonely times she too looked inward but as this aptly titled release demonstrates she emerged with her artistic powers energised. Additionally, she felt an irresistible wanderlust to get back out there and navigate her way as a women in the unforgiving music world. Væring’s sparse but vivid lyrics encapsulate a sense of empowerment and resilience in a blend of folk, country and blues. Where americana meets nordicana perhaps?

Væring describes herself as “a singer & songwriter, composer, lyricist and guitarist”. Her musical career began in the 1990s as a jazz artist before songwriting began to dominate her innate curiosity culminating in a magnificent ten-piece fusion project Tone of Voice Orchestra. Lucinda Williams and Lori McKenna were her way into music more familiar to readers of AUK. The sentimentality inherent in so much classic country, instruments such as pedal steel and resonator guitars for female vocals suited her songs that look back and let go. The next step was going to Canada and with her trusted producer John Rahm, Væring headed into americana.

Opener ‘I’m Not a Quitter’ perfectly sums up the album. The gentle acoustic guitar is bolstered by a persistent dobro line but the lyrics swing the punch, “I’m not a quitter/ And I ain’t done yet” is her intent as, “I’ll be rolling with the punches/ ‘Till the fat lady sings” defiantly blends the ring with the stage. ‘I Hope He Cancels’ reveals vulnerability. A single performance or an entire project could end in failure but Væring is prepared to take that chance. A more alt-country feel, the banjo line is a constant reminder of that uncertainty.

In ‘The Call’ Væring admits that her musical ambitions are not the only part of her life. Categorising herself in the ‘sandwich generation’ she contemplates the opposing tensions of ageing parents and children growing up in a ballad where three-part harmony and pedal steel vie with for space as she contemplates love amid the slow but inevitable passage of frail old age. Looking in the other direction the gentle ballad, ‘I’ve Outgrown Kandinsky’ recognises how perspectives change with generations but love remains a constant.

Respectively folk then smooth pop are the soundtrack to two reflections on the music business, ‘If I Were a Builder’ looks at the place of the arts in life as the world reopened after lockdown while ‘May the Best Man Win’ is Væring’s “feminist banger” that sharply depicts where a female artist fits into the business. As throughout the album she shows that you can make a point without losing your cool. “We’re all kinds of women in no man’s land/ Working hard and growing tall /We may not blend in with the boys in the band/ But we’re ready to play ball”.

A hard choice but the song that made the greatest impression on this reviewer was the sheer candour of ‘Getting the Hang of Being a Failure’. If the opener sums up the album then here Væring lays bare how her creative drive comes from within. She does not need external approval. To strains of early Mark Knopfler she gathers pace, is prepared to face failure but has faith in her own empowerment, resilience and determination. With Scott Smith’s swampy blues guitar she expresses that same self-worth on ‘On My Best Behaviour’.

‘A Songwriter’s Odyssey’ shows how to go about achieving that elusive balance of self esteem, worth, resilience and humility. And with very fine music too.