HalfCutLemon are back. After a period of silence, the Danish experimentalists arrive with the album This Ain’t Real — a grand declaration that post-punk remains alive, breathing, capable of containing entire universes of sound and ideas. Nine tracks featuring post-punk legend Peter Peter and powerful vocalist Persille Ingerslev coalesce into an architecture of radical uncertainty.

Here dream-pop meets surf-rock, psychedelic punk madness intertwines with profound reflections on modernity, memory, loss, and science. This is a sonic journey that refuses to follow the logic of comfort, bringing instead revelations and upheavals.

HalfCutLemon is a band from Copenhagen that has gained widespread recognition for its eclectic blend of genres—dream-pop, surf-rock, and elements of psychedelic punk soundscapes. The group comprises four talented musicians: Jesper Christiansen (vocals, keyboards), Jacob Birck Lautsen (drums), Flemming Steen Andersen (bass guitar), and Sigurd Kramer Hansen (guitar). In 2017, the band debuted with an EP titled “This Galaxy Is Ours.” The Danish group continued their career, releasing singles with innovative sounds and mixed styles that helped them cement their place on the Copenhagen scene and win the affection of audiences.

Nine songs—“Ointment,” “The Sun is Dying,” “La Revolution,” “Ella Cinder III,” “Up,” “Summers Gone,” “Fist,” “Disturbance,” and “We Know Their Names”—coalesce into a construction that refuses to be calm, predictable, or comfortable. I would like to describe them all, but I’ll try to highlight a few that resonated with me and deserve particular attention.

“Ointment” is a fragment of sound that can be described as crushing. And indeed it is: the drums here are powerful, hitting with precision, and the sound is mighty and loud. The rough, almost strained-to-screaming vocals of Jesper also support this atmosphere. The track can confidently be called “a strong opening.” There’s something southern in it, and the mood created is simultaneously uplifting and anxious at once. This is a statement of intent, written in the language of loudness and control.

“The Sun is Dying” serves as a counterpoint, slowing the pace and deepening the album’s breath. Beginning with an illusion of serenity, the track gradually reveals layers of unease that accumulate beneath the surface. Jesper’s soft, fibrous vocals inspire admiration while also evoking sadness. The keyboard instruments weave a web of tension, amplifying the sense of impending collapse.

The third track I’d like to discuss is “La Revolution,” where the sound becomes heavier, transmitting the true essence of post-punk. Here the band genuinely demonstrates its punk influence: fast rhythm and guitar riffs expressing aggressiveness, which delight me as a committed punk fan.

“Up” is the midpoint of this beautiful album, which completely changed its emotional tone with its cheerfulness and energy, like a rainbow after rain. Except instead of color, we have bright guitar tones and an inspiring rhythm.

“Disturbance” is a track permeated with pressure and electrical nervousness. The percussion instruments are the main protagonists here; the drums beat with such intensity that you feel physical discomfort. The track’s title fully corresponds to its content: this is the music of disturbance, of rebellion against order. The listener is immersed in a state of frenzy, where calm becomes impossible.

What strikes me most about This Ain’t Real is the album’s ability to radically shift its emotional climate from track to track. Over the course of one hour of listening, you experience discomfort, serenity, determination, anger, and hope. Rarely does an album dare to be so emotionally heterogeneous, so intent on refusing expectations. HalfCutLemon have turned this unpredictability into their greatest strength. The band conducts a tour through various emotional universes, telling stories that don’t fit into standard narratives. Each track is its own geography, its own climate system, its own logic.

HalfCutLemon have pushed every boundary imaginable, both in genres and in music as a whole. I am more than confident that they will change many people’s minds about post-punk. Some imagine that post-punk is something melancholic and perhaps a bit frightening; of course, it can be that, but not in our case. In our case, we received a grand release that you want to listen to. I won’t dispute it—there is something eerie and melancholic in it, certainly, but this doesn’t repel; on the contrary, it compels your attention: you want to listen through to the end and hear how it all concludes and what the next track will surprise you with. HalfCutLemon force you to reconsider the very concept of post-punk, showing just how expansive it can be and how much can be conveyed through it. I thought punk, which I had studied inside and out, could show me nothing new, but in this album it appeared to me in a new light.

The album “This Ain’t Real” is direct proof that in everything old, something new can be found. And if you don’t want to abandon your beloved genre but crave something new, HalfCutLemon have provided everything you need. The band boldly experiment with sound and arrangements, making their music unique and irreproducible. “This Ain’t Real” is precisely how true contemporary post-punk should sound—expressing freedom and power.

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