PORTAL PETS
Portal Pets are a Copenhagen trio made up of Xenia Xamanek, Emil Palme, and Oliver Laumann, three musicians who had already left their mark on the Danish scene before the band came along, Xamanek and Palme not least in experimental circles. The project grew out of the city's underground and introduced itself in 2025 with three singles, morningsun, ash, and 28. The self-titled debut album, Portal Pets (2026), followed this year and gathers a world that looks back to the alternative rock of earlier decades while sounding entirely of the present.
Think of a gothic realm bathed in green light. Over a foundation of vocals, bass, guitar, and drums, melodies drift upward and sometimes let go of their words altogether, while the guitars keep a raw, angular edge. Songs move between Spanish and English, and the influences, from grunge and folk to metal and alternative rock, are bent out of shape until they belong to nobody but the band. The result is dreamy and haunted at once, tender in one moment and a little dangerous in the next, with a pull that works on you slowly and then all at once.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Since the debut concert in October 2025, Portal Pets have grown quickly into a band that is worth seeing in the flesh. The three play with a close attention to one another that makes the songs feel bigger than they do on record. The set moves between hush and force, with melodies carried high above a raw foundation, and the room is drawn in before it notices.
