Kira Skov – What Ties Us Together Will Keep Us Apart

Kira Skov erlebte viele dramatische und lebendige Geschichten, aufgewachsen in einem Vorort von Kopenhagen. Ein direktes und tiefgründiges Album, das den Hörer in einer klaren, melodischen Sprache anspricht

Ihr Vater erzählte von Dennis, seinem Freund, der schreckliche Ereignisse überlebte, bevor er sein Leben durch Ertrinken in einer Badewanne beendete. Dann gab es noch eine Schwester, von der niemand sonst je etwas gehört hatte und die offenbar an einer Überdosis starb. Er sprach auch über seinen Kampf gegen den Krebs und die anschließende Behandlung in einem Krankenhaus in Lund, Schweden. Obwohl Kiras Vater so lebhaft über seine Schwester, die Krankheit und Dennis sprach, waren dies Figuren und Ereignisse, die nur in seiner Vorstellung lebten – und starben.

Geschichten werden von Generation zu Generation weitergegeben, oft durch unausgesprochenes soziales Erbe und sogar durch kollektiv vererbte Erinnerungen. Kiras Großvater war während des Zweiten Weltkriegs in einem Konzentrationslager und brachte als Überlebender verständlicherweise eine Menge Trauma in seinen Haushalt. Dies hatte große Auswirkungen auf ihren Vater, der sein ganzes Leben lang mit Suchtproblemen kämpfte und vielleicht die Anziehungskraft der jungen Kira auf Menschen mit vertrauten Schatten“, wie sie es ausdrückt, beeinflusste.

 “As children, my siblings and I didn’t know that many of his many anecdotes were made up. They ended up becoming part of our shared history. And strangely, some of my father’s stories became premonitions of events that would unfold later in life,” Kira shares.

The narratives we create, as well as the unspoken ones in families, have fascinated the singer and composer for years. Eventually, these stories and everything else passed down through generations began appearing as themes in her music.

“I had written some songs about family relationships and was getting deeper and deeper into that theme when the phone rang one day,” Skov remembers.

Anna Emma Haudal, the writer and director of the successful DR3 TV series Doggystyle, was on the phone – with an incredible proposal.

Haudal was working on a new Sunday TV series for DR1 entitled Generations. Premiering in April 2025, the show tells the story of four women who unravel a series of family secrets

“We were working with the same subjects of generational trauma and how we see each other and ourselves through it. The timing was perfect – meant to be! It was a therapeutic, energetic release for me and inspired the songs that have now become a full album,” Kira explains.

The resulting album is direct and profound, addressing the listener in clear, melodic language. “Writing and recording it has been a wonderful process, and I’m very happy with the result,” she says.

Together with her partner, Silas Tinglef, she recorded and produced WHAT TIES US TOGETHER WILL KEEP US APART at Seabass Studios in Copenhagen. Silas plays most of the instruments on the album: guitar, drums, keyboards, and bass in some places. Kira Skov sings and plays guitar, Maria Jagd plays all strings, AC plays bass on a couple of songs, Ned Ferm plays flute and saxophone, and Anders Trentemøller plays synth bass on one track. Brian Batz mastered the album.

————————————————————————————————————————————-

Kira briefly takes us through the songs in her own words:

Look Inside

It starts with reflecting on what love is not, what it could be, and what it stems from. It’s a glimpse into the vast diversity of moments of human life, grand and small, with gratitude for what we have when we take the time to stop and appreciate it.

Only The Dream

It’s a train of thought and a vehicle for wondering about the nature of reality, the mystery of life, and what we experience and perceive as the world around us. It’s also a liberating celebration of everything we don’t know now and will probably never know with any certainty. It’s also a celebration of freedom through dreams.

Ordinary People

This song is a symphonic journey that begins with alienation and the loneliness of being outside looking in. Along the way, this feeling transforms into a manifesto about choosing your own path, and a different optimism enters the music.

Waterfalls

It’s about the contradictory dilemma of articulating the most challenging and unspoken things in a family relationship. Should you say it out loud or not? Which is worse at any given moment? It’s also about repeating the same patterns endlessly by avoiding acknowledging them and looking at them directly.

Shame

It’s about the feeling of not being seen and recognized. Misunderstandings that can occur, even in the closest relationships, can be devastating. There’s shame that’s always been a part of many of us – without always knowing why. Culturally, and maybe just as a basic feeling in us, as an inherited defect that inhibits our relationships with others.

Scream It Out

A chant over the overall theme of the record. A call to get it out of your body! The suppressed scream.

Understanding

This one is about everything we want to say but can’t express. Again, the theme is the desire to be understood and to find a language for the unspoken. Although the whole song is about finding words for the invisible, there is also a sense of community in it—what we can’t figure out strangely connects us as humans here on Earth.

Passed Down

About inheritance and generations—what we pass on, both within and outside our control. Beliefs, convictions, habits, traumas, and a desire to transcend, create, and enter a different future filled with hopes and dreams.

Calling The Grievers

It’s about a chance encounter with someone who knows nothing about your life or history yet recognizes you and articulates something unspoken. It is also a call to grieving people to talk about loss.

Daddy And The Gone

It’s about the absent father. It’s a song about the ability to create your own narrative and invent your own world if the one you’re in doesn’t reach or contain you sufficiently.

Next Time

It’s a humorous and somewhat sad song about getting better at everything through repetition. What’s possible next time? And could something be possible somewhere else, at another time?

It Ain’t Pretty

This song is a departure from the other recorded songs, both thematically and sonically. In short, the lyrics are about what it’s like to grow older as a woman in a culture obsessed with youth. They express rage and wonder at internal change and how society treats you once you are outside your so-called “prime.” From my perspective as a woman, it’s a kind of gospel/punk song that rebels against ageism

 

Kira Skov – Vocals. Silas Tinglef – Guitars, bass, drums, keys, backing vocals, perc a.o. Anders AC Christensen – Bass, piano. Maria Martine Jagd – Strings. Guests: Ned Ferm – Sax, flute. Anders Trentemøller – Synthbass.

Lo Ersare – Backing vocals.

 

LOOK INSIDE / ONLY THE DREAM / ORDINARY PEOPLE / WATERFALLS / SHAME / UNDERSTANDING / SCREAM IT OUT / PASSED DOWN / CALLING THE GRIEVERS / DADDY AND THE GONE / NEXT TIME / IT AIN’T PRETTY.

 

LP: STULP 25021 / CD: STUCD 25022. Kira Skov, WHAT TIES US TOGETHER WILL KEEP US APART, Stunt Records, Sundance Music ApS, 2025.