Founded one drunken night in Brooklyn in 2006 by Thorben Seierø Jensen and Sune Sølund, Danish duo gone collective, Alcoholic Faith Mission, had their debut ready in just three months. It should, however, take them another three years and a return to New York to finish their sophomore effort, ‘421 Wythe Avenue’, which was released earlier this year.

Written and recorded in an old factory loft on 421 Wythe Avenue in Brooklyn (see what they did there, ‘know, title-wise?), this followup to ‘Misery Loves Company’ see Jensen and Sølund expand from stripped down, “two guys and their guitars” alt-folk to a grander, yet somber expression with elegantly gritty electronic elements, whispering for mentions of acts like Bon Iver, Broken Social Scene and compatriots Blue Foundation. And it’s great.

With the addition of Gustav Rasmussen (trombone, vocal, guitar), Laurids Smedegaard (drums, vocal, guitar) and Kristine Permild (vocal, keys, percussion) to the lineup, AFM have given themselves more opportunities in attack. Especially Permild’s ethereal, bittersweet vocal adds volumes and she stands in perfect, melancholic contrast to leading man Thorben Seierø Jensen’s frail ditto throughout.

This summer Alcoholic Faith Mission had three songs on the soundtrack to Canadian film Point Traverse, and a couple of weeks ago it was announced that ‘421 Wythe Avenue’ will be released in North America and Japan come 2010. Around the same time AFM revealed that they’ve already finished a third album (moving fast now) from which you can check out  the excellent first single ‘My Eyes To See’ on MySpace.

Genre: Alternative/Indierock
Who: Alcoholic Faith Mission
Album: 421 Wythe Avenue
Label: PonyRec
Year: 2009
Country: Denmark   
Language: English
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Recommended tracks:
Gently – Nut In Your Eye – We All Have Our Shortcomings – Guilty Scared Eyes