Albert Hertz is the new kid on the booming Scandi block

CPH scene mainstay Albert Hertz drops his third single, ‘Actor’, and it’s a philosophical meandering.

But first, here’s to the facts: Albert Hertz has been an active actor (excuse us for this) in the beloved Copenhagen music scene for almost the past decade – think songwriting, producing, and collaborating with the likes of ML Buch, Smerz, and Molina. But it’s in 2026 that Hertz turns his generous arsenal toward a new direction, one where the spotlight is cast on him.  

‘Actor’ sounds like so many things. Objectively and sonically, the guitar strings soothe the heart, Hertz’s voice offers a comforting and deep mellow reassurance, wallowing us in an almost 90s midwestern emo sensitivity — Scandi-tinted though. But subjectively, the song could very well be the soundtrack that bursts out on screen when the film’s main character gets out of his philosophy uni class. The lead of our envisioned movie is handsome but sometimes nimbly insufferable, sleek in his fully black outfit, rolled cigarette in hand, mansplaining Hegel or Debord to his seminar comrades (that’s just the type of guy he is). And are we complaining? No. Let us bask in some abstract questioning through our imagined literary tortured protagonist. 

The cinematic Hertz-world that ‘Actor’ offers us is one where existential dread swings between the sanity you think you’ll find in a book and the despair that hits you when you fall all too deep into an overthinking spiral. Leaning into the lyrics offers us the absurdity of the plot, one where the role is blurred: ‘I’m the critic and backer; I’m in the band and directing.’

What’s the meaning of life? What role are you playing? It’s time to meditate on these thoughts with Hertz.