The Danish singer/songwriter Thomas Charlie Pedersen, who currently resides in Copenhagen, has just unveiled a fresh solo album under the title Employees Must Wash Hands. This latest musical endeavor presents a mellower sound, influenced by folk, indie and singer/songwriter genres. Additionally, the artist is an active member of the Danish rock band, Vinyl Floor.
The artist states that “Some of these songs deal with man’s relationship with God and God's relationship with man. Who has abandoned who? Is there any faith or spirituality left? They also deal with isolation, self-doubt and all of the other stuff on my mind during the strange time that was Covid lockdown. It feels like the right choice to finally release these songs since they reflect a certain period – at least for me - and they gave me hope when I wrote them.”
The album begins with “Yesterdays and Silly Ways” and the nostalgia from the late ’60s and early ’70s was evident. It sounds great. The melodies felt familiar and inviting. I was impressed by the songwriting right off the bat. The Beatles did come to mind on this song.
“Oh Whatever” had this nautical feeling to me. I kept on feeling like I was a ship at sea. It also felt cinematic. I invite you to the tango on “Slow Passage” which is fun and sounded like it could be in a Quentin Tarantino movie.
You then have a somber ballad with “Rain on Saturn.” It has a gospel flavor. There was definitely a religious feeling with this song. One of my favorites was “Coarse Rasp of Yore” which has some fantastic guitar picking and vocal melodies.
The artist is just getting started. The album jumps around a lot in terms of genre. There are some more rock based songs like “Sooner Than You Think” as well as a lot of intimate moments. The haunting “Tremble and Reel” is well done and has a stillness to it while the closer “Stagnant Pools of Sorrow” is almost straight classical.
There’s a lot of variation to this album which made it feel like a compilation album at times. I also happened to really enjoy it. There are some gems on this album.
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