NEW EP OUT NOW

(Exit Dreaming)
Written in collaboration with Neill Cardinal Furio

I’m excited to share six new songs that I wrote in collaboration with Neill Cardinal Furio.
Neill provided the lyrics, and my job was to marry them to music. As I immersed myself in his words, the process of writing these songs felt more like scoring a film—Neill’s lyrics are meticulously crafted, each with a vivid, cinematic story.
Recording these songs has been an absolute joy, and we hope you’ll enjoy listening to them as much as we enjoyed making them.

https://allanoesterdahl.lnk.to/ExitDreaming

These recordings were brought to life with the help of some truly talented musicians.

Back in 2012, I had the pleasure of playing guitar and working with Allan Østerdahl on his second album Remove & Regret. As a guitar player, I was given the chance to “stretch out” like never before on any other project.

Allan is not only a brilliant singer and songwriter, but also a very tasteful guitar player himself — and technically way better than I — so for him to trust me to add my texture and atmosphere, while he took care of the basic guitar parts and his brilliant singing, was a great honour and something of a pat on the back.

Years have gone by since then, and now Allan has a new EP called (Exit Dreaming) out in the world. And I am lucky to have had the pleasure of working with him again. And what a pleasure it has been to play with him and such a wonderful team of musicians.

Eddi Jarl Sørensen added his amazing, innovative percussion work to the album, and Christoffer Holm Clausen brought his sweetly melodic and tasteful bass playing. I had never met either Eddi or Christoffer, but after a few hours of hanging out, drinking coffee, and chatting about this and that, we started playing and recording that very day. And what a joy it was bouncing musical ideas between the four of us!

I have always found it interesting how Allan blends various inspirations into something that is uniquely his very own expression. You can find elements of the great traditional singer/songwriter masters like Dylan and Cohen, but also the (in my opinion) just as great Neil Finn in his singing and songwriting. Guitar-playing-wise, Allan draws equally from players as different as Chet Atkins and Brian May! Most of all, these diverse elements create something that is very unique, and very Allan Østerdahl.

Our dear friend, Neill Cardinal Furio, offered half a dozen of his wonderful lyrics to this project. And with Allan’s melodic songwriting and all our eclectic styles, it’ll be up to you to decide where to file this music. Good luck with that! To me it’s something in between rock, pop, jazz, and singer/songwriter.

Søren Koch — February 1st 2026

A Listener’s Guide To (Exit Dreaming)

HOME SWEET HELL

Hmm … what have we here? The scene of a crime? A break-up? A murder? Either or any old
way, the hell is tell-tale, and the flames are everywhere. And what the heck is that missing last
word? A confession? Or just a bad edit?

CANNED GOODS

You think things are bad now? Just you wait. The water wars aren’t even here yet, but the body
count is rising. And we’ve already run out of room to bury the corpses. Thank goodness for the
cure of rampant entrepreneurship. And the fact that some people will buy almost anything.

INFINITY IN REVERSE

Ever since The Eligibles first reversed the tape on their 1959 novelty number “Car Trouble”,
we’ve been offered a second direction in which to travel the space-time continuum. Which, given
the R on every ride’s gear lever, makes perfect sense. Especially this one’s, which has gone as
far as it can in Drive.

FIRST-PERSON SHOOTER

By show of hands, how many of you have an X-Box or a Playstation or a Switch? Or a Joystick or
a Zapper or a Toylet? Or have a son who does, ghost-faced and raccoon-eyed in front of a
flickering screen? Okay, then … you know what’s going on here. Or do you? ‘Cause maybe that
kid is all grown up, and has found a well-paying job with the powers-that-be. We can only hope not.

STILL LIFE

A still life is a work of art that depicts mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace
objects, which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, and shells) or are
human-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, and pipes). But that’s just the
Wikipedia-what. What about the who-where-when-how-why?

MY SWEET DREAM

Hmm … what have we here? The scene of a crock? A crack-up? A mirage? Either or any old
way, the dream is tell-tale, and the flowers are everywhere. And what on earth is that rhyming
last word? An illusion? Or just a glad edit?

Neill Cardinal Furio — February 1st 2026