Efterklang Wins New IMPALA Award

Copenhagen-based indie rock act Efterklang has won the first IMPALA European independent album of the year award.

The indie music companies’ association chose Magic Chairs, the band’s third album, from a shortlist of 21 albums from across Europe. The albums covered most genres and included releases from Underworld, Bjørn Eidsvåg, Asa, Paleface, and The Bambi Molesters.

The winner is the Danish band’s first album on the UK’s 4AD label, which released it globally in February 2010. Rumraket, the band’s own label, released the album in Scandinavia.

The UK’s Mojo magazine said it has an “arresting, wistful songwriting style,” while the BBC Music Review described it as “exemplary escapism.”

IMPALA executive chair Helen Smith said the competition was a close-run thing but Magic Chairs is a truly European release, a Danish band with its own label working with a seminal UK independent.