Speak Daggers
Danish post-punk rock band Iceage’s last studio record was released four years ago. But Elias Rønnenfelt has stayed busy since. In just the last two years, Rønnenfelt has put out three solo albums: Heavy Glory (2024), lucre (2025), and, this week, Speak Daggers.
For those listening to Rønnenfelt for the first time, the album might require some adjusting-to. He has a way of singing that feels particularly strained, as if in pain. This style of singing and faded-in-and-out vocal production is well-suited to his tortured songwriting. There is an angst and disturb to his sound - equally concerned with the turmoil inside him as that around him. Something about it feels acutely masculine as he grapples honestly with the struggles of young manhood. Accepting your weaknesses. Acknowledging your addictions. He explores his own self-destruction, loathing, resentment - feelings shared by many men, but not ones that are discussed by them. Rønnenfelt isn’t just staring down his vices and mistakes, he is bringing you into them, and perhaps suggesting that you ask yourself if you relate. From “On a hook, swimming in the orbit; That’s the burden I adore” to “I love you; I hurt you even better”, Rønnenfelt is not trying to be perfect. He is gritty. Grimey, even, at times. Speak Daggers does not feel clean. Rather, it bleeds authenticity.
The instrumental production on the record is varied and textured. From a Cage The Elephant-like psychedelia/blues alt rock on songs like Love How It Feels to a rattlesnake restlessness in USA Baby to a dark reggae mystique in Not Gonna Follow, Speak Daggers is rather genre-elusive. It fits best under a general “alternative” or “indie” title, as it also dips into classical, rock and hip-hop influences in other places. The “The stars, the reach, the ends, the means, the rough, the cut, the rise-repeat” bit of Not Gonna Follow is brilliant. It is one of many instances of Rønnenfelt’s genius string of words. Even considering Denmark’s ridiculously high English literacy rate, Rønnenfelt’s mastery of the language is nothing short of astonishing. The young artist wrote the album in its entirety, much of which is considerably more subtle, sophisticated, and creative than much of what Rønnenfelt’s native English songwriting peers produce. There is an undeniable poetic nature to his use of words (he is a poet, unsurprisingly). A mesmerizing intricacy that resembles reading a Cormac McCarthy novel:
“I really want nothing more than to cave in, in the whispered hallow moon; A brief embrace with the past, before it’s gone again; I didn’t know that it lived on in me; We’re just an amalgamation of moments passed, in union with the moon.”
“An insipid rodent takes a wreck to town, weaves through cracks where it can self-apply; Die sizing up and going pound for pound; A sold endeavor then you learn to fly.”
“My little menace, you’ve been good to me. Raised me from the beat when I was beat. If I had to do the whole thing over again, I wouldn’t, given the position I’m in, here in the orchard of pain.”
Meanwhile, I am unconvinced by some of his collaborations on this record. For one, The Congos feature on Not Gonna Follow could have been more fruitful. Meanwhile, Erika de Casier did not contribute tremendously to Blunt Force Trauma. Likewise, Fine on Kill Your Neighbor was underwhelming. I understand wanting featured artists to be only mildly involved, but in these cases, their presence was so minimal, it seemed unnecessary to have them at all. I’m not saying they should not have been there, but rather that he should have been bolder about their contributions. Likewise, there are points in the record where it feels Rønnenfelt is lacking effort. He seems, at times, too comfortable in his moody, slurred misery. A tempo change would have been nice. A tight, jam-packed verse. Something to jolt us as we swirl around like flies in his soupy, syrupy torment.
Nonetheless, Speak Daggers shows that Rønnenfelt is a creative visionary. It is not a perfect record, but an original and highly exciting project that paints the future as full of potential for the artist.
