Dicte escapes with rock-solid album

Danish “Queen of Cool”, Dicte, once again rolls out the heavy artillery and lands one of her best albums to date. Her seventh solo installment ‘Let’s Escape’ takes her fans on a tour de force of brutally honest rock serenades, leaving even the most cold-hearted barbarian lying on the floor, crying for mercy. Well done!

Joplin meets Crow meets Eilish meets Cave

Sweet but ruthless. Dark but full of hope. That is probably the best way to describe the new 10-piece production by one of Denmark’s absolutely most interesting female artists in the past couple of decades.

Her new 2024-album ‘Let’s Escape’ was formed by the reflections she had, following the recent loss of her mother – a woman with whom Dicte had a “complicated relationship with“.

In an article with the Danish daily Avisen Danmark she explained how she was quite angry with her mother for many years. But after the mother’s passing, Dicte realized how disappointed you risk becoming, if you go through life expecting other people to love you, only the way you want to be loved.

With ‘Let’s Escape‘ Dicte takes your hand and guides you through some of her own harsh realizations. But she also shows you, that things might not be as bad as they seem, if you are capable of looking at the hurtful parts from a distance.

The title track itself is a seemingly optimistic pop tune full of promise and forgiveness. With its highly melodic combo of synth, acoustic guitar and good old wooden bass it makes this blogger think of some of Nick Rhodes’ (Duran Duran) best compositions. But that’s far from all!

Throughout the album faint notes of artists like Sheryl Crow, Björk, and Billie Eilish appears – like mist in the morning, disappearing with the first rays of sun. Sometimes you also feel the rawness of Dicte’s early inspiration, Janis Joplin, stepping in too, as if the legend was lingering in the back room all along.

Surely Dicte hasn’t forgotten her own early idols. But with ‘Let’s Escape’ she underlines why she is becoming quite the incontestable icon herself – one that others might want to sound like in the future.

Loaded with fine details

Going through the album a second and third time, various delicate details begin to pop out. The zither-like guitar and Bee Gees-inspired choir on “You Wanna Dance” being some of them. Another the downplayed elegance of the drums in “Jezabel“, making the rather essential beat almost transparent. Even layered with gorgeous synth, the song ends up appearing unplugged to the listener. That’s elegance for you, and it certainly doesn’t hurt having guitar legend, Mika Vandborg, adding his amplified seasoning on top. Luxury cake with Michelin frosting, folks.

However, best of all is Dicte herself. With awesome touch and incredibly enticing vocal work she serves neat poetry and some truly meaningful songs, that are easy to sing along to too… As usual!

All since her break-through in 1992 with the band ‘Her Personal Pain‘, to her later collaborations with friend and former partner, Claus Hempler, this surplus of finer details – when instrumentation meets lyrics – has been a key part of the Dicte brand.

Becoming an icon for future artists

Even with a few hints of some of the industry’s giants, Dicte stands firm and bright in her own right. Listening to songs like “Cry Wolf“, “On My Behalf” and “The Song For You” (the latter obviously about the strained mother-daughter relationship) you realize just what this Danish diamond is capable of.

Dark and ominous and at the same time sweet and warm, Dicte’s voice grabs your heart with both hands… and doesn’t let go! From the first chord strikes in “Mobile Home“, we are all on board.

At the other end of the parable you find the song “Shoot A Hole In The World” – a song about facing your anxiety and giving your own shortcomings the f*** finger. We love the premise; you can’t necessarily fix your challenges right this minute… But you can learn to accept them.

NOTE: Check out the video below and get ready to pogo around in your living room.

With ‘Let’s Escape’ Dicte adds to her already substantial catalog of extremely strong song-writing. Her work will (and should) in time serve as inspiration for a whole new generation of talented artists, who will look at her and see just how far you can get with craftsmanship, persistence, and courage to share some of life’s less pleasant sides and convey them in poetry and music.

Short-listed for “Album of the Year 2024”

As you can probably sense, this blogger is quite head-over-heels about this home run of an album. Were we to award stars on Latebar, it would be a full set for Dicte and ‘Let’s Escape’. No doubt!

We hope all 10 songs get a lot of airplay on radio stations over the summer – not just in Scandinavia – and that we’ll be able to hear them all live, when Dicte once again tours clubs and venues after the summer festival season.

Bravo – Well done, Dicte!

‘Let’s Escape‘ has now been added to Latebar’s short list for “Album of the Year 2024“.

Quick facts

Full Name: Benedicte Westergaard Madsen
Born: 9 September 1966 in Glostrup (suburb of Copenhagen)
Awards: Winner of the talent show “Vi har scenen” with ‘Her Personal Pain’ i 1989, and Grammy winner in 1992. Awarded a 3-year grant by The Danish Arts Foundation in 1994.
Label: Stunt/Sundance
Agency: FMK