2 Minute Interviews: Courtesy, the showing of politeness to others

9 June 2022

Courtesy is an artist, DJ, and composer from Copenhagen, who mixes trance with neo-spiritual music. Originally made to cure fits of insomniac anxiety during the first lockdown in 2020, Courtesy’s Night Journeys — which is named after a series of paintings Lee Krasner made when her husband Jackson Pollock died — is an airy flight through trance and music for meditation. Today, we are premiering the video for “Night Journeys,” which includes a DJ Ibon remix, and is a collaboration with the artist Esben Weile Kjær (see below). We also had the chance to ask Courtesy a few questions (as part of our new series “2 Minute Interviews”) while she prepares her show on 11 June 2022 at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona.

Where do you make music?

In my studio which is currently (but temporarily) on the top of the two floor sublet we live in in Berlin.

How would you describe “Night Journeys” to the uninitiated?

I’m trying to create spaces for people to enter temporarily, where I am narrating the energies towards something pleasant and positive. This is why I currently work a lot with trance music. This has materialized into a collaborative performance piece with the artist Esben Weile Kjær (this video) shown at the Copenhagen art institution Den Fri. But I also develop these pieces in concerts venues and in nightclubs where I perform as a DJ.

How did the collaboration with Esben Weile Kjær come about?

I’ve known Esben since he was a teenager in Denmark, and I have always been very charmed by him, his ideas and productivity (and chaos, which I share with him, particularly when we were younger) and the last couple of years I´ve been waiting for the opportunity to work together, which came with this record.

What’s the Copenhagen sound?

I think whatever it was, it probably changed a lot, or at least got a lot more complex in my mind, since the idea of “a Copenhagen sound” became a thing.

Photo: Betty Kragh

Favorite ____?

Favorite Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/shadejuliette

What does the future have in store?

At the moment, I’m getting ready to move into a proper studio, to start preparing projects in person with the people I work with. Developing my liveset with guitarist Luka Aaron, recording a new record as Courtesy, upcoming exhibitions and performances, finally having time to do a merch collaboration with Filip Samuel Berg, who I adore. Finding a very stable dog sitter for our two hounds (is it you?)

Photo: Betty Kragh

The “Night Journeys Remixes“ ft. DJ Ibon, Jessy Lanza, Schacke, KMRU will be out on Kulør on August 26th.

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