Marie Fjeldsted is breathing easy again on new album
While the years of lockdowns were captivating for some, they created a completely new sanctuary for Marie Fjeldsted. The new album ‘Keep It Alive’ is Marie's first without her alias Penny Police. It is an album that comes from within a personally liberated creative space. Where security in the introverted has created space for the extroverted, and where there were no longer any reason to push a persona in front of oneself.

"While Penny Police’ music was always pure and intimate, Marie Fjeldsted’s compositions 
 touch the heart and soul even more."
- Good Because Danish on ‘Occasionally’

In 2022, Marie released the first single ‘Bad as You’ from the upcoming album – the first single without the alias Penny Police, which has otherwise ensured her great recognition both at home and abroad. A brave choice and an artistic transformation, in which she stepped forward with a more immediate and outgoing expression.

"There’s something about it that is just so perfect and refreshing, making it a perfect addition to an playlist and an instant must-listen gem. So listen closely and let your imagination run wild and free for this song is bound to be a fan favorite."
– Wolf in a Suit on ‘Never Lost, Never Won’

As an introverted being, the isolation of the corona era became a time and place without social obligations and thus a natural safe space far from the expectations and attitudes of others.

"I've never felt like a persona, so it feels like the right time to drop the Penny Police name. I have taken the music home - both litterally home in my bedroom, but also in expression, because I have created it in a time and in a space that felt like a liberating bubble far away from external influences", says Marie.

Together with her partner Linus Valdemar, she turned the bedroom into a recording studio, and in that room she has created space for herself and a completely new process. Here the road from idea to recording is short, and everything can be tested immediately.

"When we started, we didn't know it would become an album. We just didn't have enough space in the apartment for each of our music projects, so we started trying things out together. At the same time, we had just become parents for the second time, and if you know, you can hear that some of the vocals were recorded with our nursing son on the arm. So what really started out of necessity has ended up being recordings we have kept, and an album I am enormously proud of.”

”My God we have become really good at producing music in Denmark. 
 This is another song and production with international potential.” 

– Mikael Simpson, DR P6 Beat on ‘Never Lost, Never Won’

The singles released ahead of the album release – ‘Bad as You’, ‘Occasionally’, ‘Keep it Alive’, ‘Never Lost, Never Won’ and ‘Got to Love’ - feat. Christian Hjelm (March 17, 2023) – have all received praise and critical acclaim in music media, on blogs and on the airwaves. ‘Occasionally’ was in rotation on P6 Beat, as was ‘Never Lost, Never Won’, which was also Hit of the Week on DR P4 the week it was released and his since gone on to become the most played song on Danish Radio P6 Beat.

The singles each tell a different part of the album's story. A story about finding peace and security in the basic conditions of life and from there moving into life with a focus on the power you have, and a belief in the positive.

‘Let Heal What Is Hurt’, the album's focus track, encapsulates that very intention. A song about letting go, going on an adventure and deciding to focus on the good.

"Keep It Alive is a tribute to life, but also to just being. We don't always have to be moving forward. It can be quite tiring to constantly deal with whether things are going well or badly. I am reassured by remembering that I am just a small piece in this world. I have days when the house of cards falls apart, but then I try to remember that basically I just to keep on breathing. Life goes on and we are not masters of it. I think that is great and liberating to think about", says Marie.

In Politiken's review of Penny Police’s last album ‘Be Lucky’, Kim Skotte wrote, "that 'Be Lucky' is both a new break and a makeover for a musician who may not only have taken an important new step, but may quite be in the center of a decisive transformation”.

A premonition that turned out to be true. Marie Fjeldsted - who from the first time she entered it, has stood as a distinct voice on the Danish music scene - is now appearing under her own name with the album ‘Keep It Alive’ which will be released May 26 on Celebration Records.