Dream pop – Released October 23, 2026 – 13 songs, 35 mins
LUNDI
There are few things better in music than sonics that develop vivid imagery in your mind. This week I’ve stumbled into a jazz club somewhere between an unnecessary cigarette and a drink I most definitely didn’t need to uncover a seductive blend of smoky jazz. This hidden gem of an album feels both wonderfully intimate and quietly ambitious. It’s an impressive balancing act and one that makes Fine’s Jazz dreams such a captivating listen.
There’s a subdued melancholy running through Jazz dreams that makes it difficult not to get swept up in its atmosphere. Intimate and intoxicating Fine’s music carries an effortless sensuality through a less than traditional musical lens. Her vocal delivery is particularly alluring often sitting lightly amongst the music allowing the instrumentation to breathe around her. The jazz influence is less about adhering to convention and more about capturing a feeling. Piano slides, wandering guitar riffs and little instrumental flourishes from strings and brass arrive just when they’re needed creating an unpredictable listening experience that feels wonderfully organic. There’s a beautiful sadness and mystery to the whole thing but never one that becomes enough to make the experience feel particularly heavy.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Jazz dreams is just how much of Fine’s fingerprints are all over it. Writing, arranging, performing and producing, she takes an almost entirely do-it-all approach to the record demonstrating an impressive understanding of how each individual component contributes to the bigger picture. Her arrangements are particularly clever with musical ideas frequently taking unexpected turns just as you think you’ve figured them out. The jagged edges are often where the album finds its greatest strengths with songs like Get In and Run offering little reminders that there’s considerably more happening here than the initial laid back presentation might suggest. It’s an incredibly impressive exercise in musicianship without ever feeling like Fine is particularly interested in showing off.
To nitpick, something rarely done with this level of score but a thought I cannot get past, there is one occasion where Fine’s polish worked against her. Goodbye brain lacks the musical unpredictability that makes this album so compelling. It’s a well crafted song in a vacuum that feels like an oddball upbeat pop effort amongst a sea of lustful dreamy soundscapes. Ebbs and flows certainly work on an album but in this case when there’s just a single song in one manor, I’d have loved to see it stripped back more in line with the rest of the tracks. It’s the rare time I feel a repetition and simplicity over musical mystique and deep enjoyment.
Jazz dreams is a wonderfully realized record from an artist who understands the value of restraint. Fine’s ability to take ownership of practically every aspect of its creation is remarkable, particularly when the end result feels this effortless. Jazz dreams is intimate, unpredictable and effortlessly cool, a collection of songs that makes doing a little less sound like doing considerably more.
Overall Rating: 8.3/10
Favourite Song: Get in
REID
Fine Glindvad Jensen out of Copenhagen is this year’s late entry to TSR’s album of the year contention. Yes, that’s right, for the third year in a row we have a late arrival to give our lists a shake. Two years ago, we had Kendrick Lamar’s gnx (2024), which infamously surprise-dropped the morning before our scheduled year end podcast. After just 36-hours in the rotation, I boldly or recklessly called it the eighth best of 2024. A proclamation I stand by today. Last year, Geese’s Getting Killed (2025) skyrocketed to the top of not only year-end lists but was eventually our aggregate choice for best album in the last five years. These late year releases are a welcome trend and these past couple weeks have had me firmly entrenched in the dreamlike haze of Fine’s Jazz dreams.
Undoubtedly the most impressive quality of Fine’s music is she does it all on her own. Oftentimes the list of musicians, engineers, producers or contributors is lengthy. This isn’t an automatic detractor because a collaboration of ideas and talents is special and ultimately the product should speak for itself. But strictly from a creative point of view; putting blood, sweat and tears into a body of work with just your name credited as the singer, songwriter, producer and recording artist must mean that much more. I hope her sense of accomplishment and fulfilment matches the level of respect she garners from fans and peers.
Fine struck gold with the simple yet satisfying juxtaposition of her plucky basslines and angelic vocal. This combination lays the foundation of top songs like If you wanna come down, I could and Run. She fills the soundscapes with light guitars, electronic elements and everyday sounds like sirens or a phone ringing. Sometimes I rush and Get In are lyrically dense over simple instrumentals while slowing things down to a crawl on Any minute and Moment. She breaks you out of your slumber with Million years, with an unorthodox, almost uncomfortable piano lead. Goodbye brain should be in rotation on Sirius XM’s Lithium channel as it would fit in seamlessly with their 90’s playlist and will assuredly remain in mine for the foreseeable future. She’s intimately careful to fine tune without congesting and does a great job letting her ideas breathe.
Time passes, interests change and priorities shift. It wasn’t long ago that I salivated at the thought of big music festivals. Hell, many of TSR’s best memories together were in that setting and I wouldn’t change a thing. Nowadays smaller shows in intimate settings are what gets me excited and the thought of experiencing this album like that did not leave my mind over this review process. A dimly lit ballroom, with a cocktail and smoke of my choice while Fine serenades the crowd with Everything in the shade or Much to say. A couple of songs you swear you’ve heard before but you haven’t. They just fill you with a familiar warmth. Maybe one day I’ll be so lucky!
Jazz dreams continues a TSR-trend of fourth quarter releases forcing their way onto our year end lists. Fine’s ethereal, dreamy collection of songs draws inspiration from past generations but the independent creative process assures it’s undeniably her own.
Overall Rating: 8.3/10
Favourite Song: Run
ROZ
Before we get into this week’s review, I just have to ask one question: where did this year go? While our throwback review of Tame Impala’s Currents feels like yesterday, we’ve once again found ourselves at the tail end of another great year in music. What better way to cap TSR’s 2026 than to take a look at an artist that we’ve never heard of before, Danish musician Fine Glindvad Jensen (professionally known as Fine) and her second studio album simply titled Jazz dreams. Historically, our late entries have found success in our year-end lists, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious whether it will be the case here too. And with that, let’s see how exactly this dream plays out.
When it comes to creating a record, I have a broad spectrum of appreciation for the artists and also the team that they may or may not surround themselves with. TSR darling Olivia Rodrigo and newcomer Tinashe both put out fantastic albums in 2026, each having a laundry list of musicians and technical crew members to ensure that their art could be flawlessly realized the way they intended it to be. For this week’s artist, we see the pendulum swing all the way to the other side - not only does fine own the sole songwriting credit across Jazz dreams 13 track, 35-minute runtime, but she also did all of the vocals, all of the recording, all of the production, and hell, even all of the technical mixing.
Yes, that’s right - save for the final master (which by all industry standards go, should always be outsourced to an unbiased set of ears with a professional understanding of what final touches need to be done to make a record consumer friendly), Fine does every single little thing herself. A lot of times I feel as though the impressiveness of such a feat can be lost on listeners, but really, it is the fact that Jazz dreams feels so sonically balanced that you would never know otherwise that makes me go - does it really even matter at the end of the day unless you’re a giant nerd? This nerd says no, it really doesn’t. This woman is talented as hell, and the world is better for it.
While not purely a jazz album (as the title would suggest), it really does play out as if you were calmy floating through the lucidity of a dream. Perhaps it is this lucid, quasi-chaotic flow state that contributes to the albums ‘jazz’ namesake rather than taking it in the literal, objective sense. This dreamy melancholic concoction brings me back to the 90’s stylings of Mazzy Star while also reminding me of some of the bands today such as Beach House and Cigarettes After Sex. The instrumentation is sparse, which leaves plenty of room for Jensen to absorb the energy of each space within every songs arrangement with her laid back vocal performance. Slow burning guitars riff over infectious bass lines and stripped back drums to create a hazy atmosphere found in the seediest of blues bars and local watering holes that smell of stale cigarette smoke and cheap perfume. It is an impressively vivid imagery that doesn’t lose its grip on you all throughout the listen, mainly because Fine keeps you immersed in the space for the entirety of the record and not allowing you outside for fresh air.
Standout tracks include the feedback-laden I could, the earworm that is Goodbye brain and the tragically beautiful Everything in the shade. In saying that, I do get the feeling that Jazz dreams gives off the type of vibe where if you didn’t enjoy it right out of the gate, then you’re probably long gone before you even get to that third song. Herein lies my only objective criticism of the album, even if it is one that doesn’t affect my personally: Fine sets the tone of this album right out of the gate and does not budge. You’re free to join in on the journey across this drawn back dream pop landscape, but if that isn’t a sound that you’re into then you may as well choose to forfeit and just wake up. Loving it or hating it is really up to you, because it isn’t going to try and convince you otherwise. It just ‘is’.
Perhaps it’s fitting that the final TSR review of 2026 would land on a scaled back, solo effort by an unknown artist to the blog. It’s in our mission statement, after all, that we strive to dig through the crates and show our viewers fresh artists with interesting sounds; Fine is giving us exactly that. Jazz dreams is impressive not only for its creative process but also its technical merit - it proves that you don’t need a big team or a fancy studio to make an excellent record. Now just sit back, close your eyes, and let Fine Glindvad Jensen take you on a hypnotic journey within the confines of her mind.
Overall Rating: 8.1/10
Favourite Song: Everything in the shade