Efterklang - Windflowers (LP) - Bottle Green Vinyl

Efterklang’s Windflowers arrived in October 2021 on City Slang, and it plays like a gentle pivot rather than a grand statement. The Danish trio of Casper Clausen, Mads Brauer and Rasmus Stolberg have long folded orchestral colours and electronics into warm, human songs, but here they pare the palette back and let air move through the arrangements. It is a record about smallness and renewal, named after the windflower, a fragile bloom that sways with the breeze. That idea seems to guide everything, from the light touch in the production to the way melodies unfurl without fuss.

Spin Windflowers vinyl and you hear how considered the trio’s choices are. Synth pads hang like morning fog, guitars flicker in the corners, and Clausen’s voice sits close, conversational, never belting for effect. Living Other Lives, one of the pre-release singles, is a quiet earworm built on a clipped pulse and nimble bass, the kind of tune that seems modest on first pass then lodges itself for days. It is a neat reminder of how Efterklang write hooks that feel hand-carved rather than machine-pressed. Dragonfly moves slower, with brushed percussion, delicate keys and a vocal that sounds almost weightless. When the chorus glows, it feels earned, not imposed.

A lot of talk around Windflowers focused on language, because Altid Sammen in 2019 leaned heavily on Danish lyrics and choral textures. This time the band mostly return to English, which shifts the intimacy. You catch little turns of phrase and murmured asides, and the songs carry that slightly dreamy pop shape the group toyed with on Magic Chairs and Piramida, just less polished to a shine. They keep the circle small, and it works. Rather than drafting a huge cast, the trio shape the record themselves, leaning on piano, strings and electronics with a kind of quiet confidence. Nothing feels overstuffed. Even the crescendos have soft edges.

The sequencing is canny. Early tracks move with light feet, then the middle of the record breathes out and lets in more texture, a little echo on the vocal here, a flutter of strings there. The closer pulls the threads together, folding a half-whispered melody into a final swell that feels like sunlight edging across a cold room. You reach for the side B runout groove almost before it arrives, because the whole thing invites a second pass. On vinyl in particular, the low end sits round and comforting, and the small details in the percussion reveal themselves nicely. If you collect Efterklang albums on vinyl, this one earns its shelf space beside Parades and Piramida.

What I love is how the trio keep searching for tenderness without slipping into syrup. There is curiosity in the sound design, but they never let the toys take over. You can hear fingers on keys, the slight rasp of bowed strings, the shared breath before a harmony lands. It is music that values touch. That fits with the title too, since windflowers are really anemones, small and resilient, early heralds of spring. The band have spoken about chasing that feeling of new growth after a long season, and you can hear it in the way choruses sidle in rather than crash the door.

For anyone building a collection, Windflowers is a sweet gateway into the band’s world. It is approachable without sanding off the odd angles that make Efterklang so rewarding. If you are hunting for Efterklang vinyl or looking to buy Efterklang records online, this is an easy recommendation. A lot of City Slang pressings are still circulating, and the packaging suits the music’s quiet glow. I’ve pointed a few customers toward it at our local Melbourne record store when they ask for something thoughtful to put on in the evening. It sits nicely alongside contemporary chamber pop, but it also nods back to the group’s early experimental streak.

In Australia there is a steady appetite for this kind of understated, textured pop. You will find Windflowers rubbing shoulders with ambient and modern classical in bins across the better shops, and it makes sense. The balance feels right. If you are skimming a page of vinyl records Australia retailers and wondering where to start with the band, this album will do the trick. Search for Windflowers vinyl and let it land on your doorstep, then give it time. Efterklang have always made records that reward patience. Here they do it with a softness that feels quietly brave, and after a few plays, it is hard not to be charmed.