When a 12 year old girl stuffs socks down her trousersin order to pass as a male rock singer in the school band, you could say there is a certain type of determination at play. It also shows that even in her younger years, Mikala Nørgaard had fun both celebrating as well as destroying male rock clichés – even when it meant that any hope of a romantic reputation in her teens disappeared. Socks down her leggings and 1.85 metres tall? Mikala was soon made aware that most boys ran away – even the tough ones.

Now, a fair number of years later, Mikala’s band GØRL still plays with clichés. For her first album, the singer, guitarist and songwriter put together a wild collection of theatrical tracks and psychedelic melodies. Her voice is constantly mistaken for that of a man, which comes as no surprise, as her idols are mainly male. Add to this a touch of Nordic humour, which seems to be ingrained in the native Danish character. Her constant companion is a beer horn, since just like all Vikings, she loves the brew like no other.

And just to top it all off, her project is called GØRL. It couldn’t be less girly! Hard to spell as well, what with that Danish letter. Oh yeah, naturally Mikala loves the sea and ships, and therefore a wonderfully drunk seaman’s/seawoman’s duet featuring Sir Tralala called Sailor Song found its way onto the album. In Acid Island on the other hand, she plays the mean Stewardess; in Circus Town she slips into the role of a hippy biker who can’t keep up with the force of Rock’n’Roll any more and just wants to go home.

She draws her musical inspiration from decades of rock and pop music; many of her much loved early idols have already gone to Valhalla, or whatever the Vikings call it. Glam Rock and Psychedelic Rock live on in GØRL – possibly with some role reversals, as well as being compiled differently to how its forebearers might have initially intended. With these songs in her bag and her beer horn in hand, GØRL can begin her journey to what could be seen as new shores, with absolute confidence.

Photo © Mikala Nørgaard