20 Apr 2007

Helena's 2007 Dynamo Tour (II): Unused Love Voz Remix and Waterlily Love

Listen to the Voz Vibrante Remix of next single "Where does the unused love go?" You can also go to Voz Vibrante´s own home here on myspace and listen to more! Voz Vibrante = Erik Hjärpe, who contributed a lot to the sound of my album "Dynamo". He also plays with for example The Martelli Tapes and Damn!!
Helena Josefsson (Sandy Mouche)


I like this remix a lot. Bravo. Because first of all "Where does the unused love go" is my favourite song on Dynamo. Normally I don´t like remixes, but I think that one´s really cool! It doesn´t disturb the song.

Nicole Breuer - HJ Official Forum


Helena! Checked your myspace a few minutes ago and heard the variant "Unused LoveVoz..."! Very smart "manufacturing" :)!!! And it kept the emotionality of the song perfectly intact! I thought I am not born to like these kind of things, but this one is tremendously good. Who did it??? Lund is pretty dark today. I long for the sun and 5(0) minutes of spare time. Don't you??

Hugs from Karl XI gatan

Adela Toplean - A_T_ blog

Hello Adela!!
The sunlight from Karl IX gatan:o) I will tell Erik Hjärpe to read your opinion, he has made the remix :o) He played at "Dynamo" and helped finding the right style. Normally he plays in Damn!, Martelli Tapes and A Camp. A hug from me through the computer!
Helena Josefsson (Sandy Mouche)


Prinsessan Helena

Photos by
Emma Sonesson
(a.k.a. BiLLY)



Waterlily love is a song from Helena Josefsson's new album. It could fit very well this April rainy weather, although it is not one of Helena's singles from Dynamo.

In this song, Helena sings about a stormy weather and about a broken love, full of silver chains and thorns in bloom. The man is a white lightning that struck her heart in two. Now she can't resist him and can't help herself: the love she had turned mouldy as hell. She feels lost: she can't steer her wheel because the sea within has changed again. So she whispers as a waterlily while the gloomy slumber flows out of her heart. Finally, the blossom and the white frost turn to wine. As a bird, she loses her feathers and goes out of her box. Maybe because the spring is there, after the storm.


Et j´ai perdu mon plumage
Je suis comme un oiseau
Je ne me plait pas
dans une cage

Et je ne le ferai pas
Non, je ne le ferai pas



Helena Josefsson uses French again in one of her new songs, Waterlily Love. The picture is from the Swedish painter Adela Toplean.

19 Apr 2007

P, C & C ... Who's the "Händig Man"? (II): Skäne, Lisbon and other places

Per "dropped by" and updated The Daily Roxette on the new project. A single will be released as promised, Per Gessle won't tell us yet what the title is but the planned release date is May 23.

"Att vara Per Gessle – den auktoriserade biografin" ("Being Per Gessle - the Authorized Biography") is the title of a new book that tells all about Gyllene Tider, Roxette and the man himself. The book is being written by reporter Sven Lindström and follows Gessle from his youth in Halmstad to the Big Break and further on to international success. Besides interviews with the man himself, the book also contains a lot of impressions by school mates, colleagues, relatives and friends. Of course the book also contains quite a few pictures from Per Gessle's almost 30 year long career. The book is released at the end of October in Sweden.


EHM - black

We've mixed 11 out of 23 tracks until today. It sounds tuh-riffic! The album photos were taken last week by Anton Corbijn in Lisbon, Portugal. We are finishing the sleeve this week and the album goes to mastering next Friday. We're toying with ideas like a vinyl edition, a bonus CD and stuff like that. What do I know??
Per Gessle

15 Apr 2007

Helena's 2007 Dynamo Tour (I): with Salem Al Fakir in a Swedish Tour

This week, Helena Josefsson and her band (Martinique Josefsson - guitar-, Christoffer Andersson - keyboards - and Emeli - backing vocals -) have been the supporting act during the Salem Al Fakir Tour in Sweden. Helena was at three gigs:
  • Chinateatern, Stockholm, 2007/04/11
  • Trädgår'n, Göteborg 2007/04/12
  • Louis De Geer, Flygeln, Norrköping 2007/04/13
Helena speaks about it in her Official website:
Support to Salem Al Fakir. At Chinateatern 1250 persons sat down and listened. It was really nervous but then the athmosphere was magic! In Göteborg 1000 persons standing up did actually listen to the music! They sang along in "Sleepyhead".
Robin Rumich and Helena's band took some good photos:
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Helena with Salem Al Fakir

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Helena's band + Christoffer's girlfriend.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
At Chinateatern, Stockholm

Photobucket
Pictures by
Maja Bäckström, from Stockholm, SE.


Hi... i am Marc Xavier LeBlanc... aka Bones... I'm a radio show host and DJ from Canada and i'm a big fan of Helena Josefsson and Sandy Mouche. I am the host of (((la photo sonore))) radio show, that is every thursday nights from 7 to 9pm (Atlantic Standard time) - CKUM Radio J 93.5fm - and available online. On 5 April, I played 26 songs. Number 5 was "Sleepyhead", from Dynamo. On 19 April, I have played 24 songs. Number 15 was "Ghosts", from Dynamo.
Marc Xavier Leblanc, DJ Bones

9 Apr 2007

Helena's Dynamo (IX): Never never (Live at Bingolotto)

Yesterday Helena performed live "Never never" at Bingolotto (TV4, Stockholm). The musicians were: Emeli (backing vocals), Jonas André (piano), Ludde Wennstrom (bass), Per Blomgren from Sandy Mouche (drums ) and Martin Josefsson (guitar).

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Ricardo, from Venezuela, has uploaded the video in Youtube (Thanks, Ricardo!)

2 Apr 2007

Helena's Dynamo (VIII): at Johanneskyrkan, Malmö

Helena played yesterday at St Johannes Church in Malmö. The whole 7-piece band joined. This was a mass built around Helena´s music from "Dynamo". It was conducted by Ida Wareborn and Katarina Herbert-Vaarning.

Emma Sonesson ("Billy") was there and took some photos. See them here


Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Yesterday, Helena and Martin Josefsson had a day of sun, friends, kids and water, as reported by their fried Björn Folbert.

Lackalänga-Stävie, April 2007 - by B. Folbert

The sun was shining on the day of the baptism of Isabella Anna Madeleine at the Stävie kyrka.

Afterwards, me, Hanna, Martin, Helena, Robbe and Eva, went to Långa Bryggan in Bjärred where we had some coffee and juice in the sun. Flippin’ sweet!

Helena and Hanna - Lackalänga-Stävie - April, 2007 by  B. Folbert

Lackalänga-Stävie - April, 2007 by B. Folbert

Lackalänga-Stävie - April, 2007 by B. Folbert (2)




Go to www.kritiker.se and search for Helena Josefsson. Then you can read, not all, but many, of the reviews of Dynamo! One of the finest ones is not there, though : adelatoplean. And it is in English!

Aftonbladet

Borås Tidning

Dagens Nyheter

Expressen

Gefle Dagblad

Göteborgs-Posten

Kristiandstadsbladet

Metica

Nerikes Allehanda

Sundsvalls Tidning

Svenska Dagbladet

Upsala Nya Tidning

Värmlands Folkblad

Helena Josefsson (Sandy Mouche)



Now you can listen to Helena Josefsson's music at last.fm. Read her autobiography there.


last.fm

I lived in Malmö (south of Sweden) back then, and I think it was there I made up my first tunes. It was just an obvious way of expressing myself. I do that in many ways: Dancing, singing, baking, painting, sewing. My mom got mad at me once and then I remember making a sad song to comfort myself. It´s been like that ever since, only the songs have other topics of course: Love, vengeance, being scared, care, insufficiency, longing, then, now, later. I got to learn dancing since age 3 and singing in a choir since I was 7.

The music my mom played at home was a mixture of Kate Bush, 80´s Bowie, The Temptations, Enya, all of the soul-queens, Bruce Springsteen. And a record that rotated for 15 years was Jane Fonda´s aerobic-vinyl with things like The Jacksons and Bridge Over Troubled Water in a disco-soul-version, with Jane´s counting and cheering on top. I never seem to tire of that one!

My grandmother had a record store when me and my two sisters from the same batch were little, so we heard a lot of classical music at our grandparents´ cosy house. We sat in their armchairs frightened but enchanted, with our feet pulled up, listening to Prokofjev´s Peter and the wolf with Ernst-Hugo Järegård, a horrifying but wonderful actor, as story-teller.

My parents divorced when I was 7 and we moved with mom and her new love to a village called Björnstorp (outside of Lund, Sweden) when I was ten. The tough city-girl became a introvert country-mouse. When I came further from my dad he became my idol in an exaggerated way, alongside with the musical ones. (Michael Jackson, Terence Trent D´arby, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Alanis Morrisette and Cranberries) I believe my dad is a forest-man, so the mushrooms, blueberries, pucks and lakes symbolize him and my longing for that family we once were.

So, from then on we lived in the middle of a field. That was good because I could sing loud when I went cycling from the bus home. Or run far away as I went mad (and I sure can get angry, unfortunately I don´t always dare to show the person who caused it). I really fancy going by bike. I sang very loud and I played with my throat. No one but the horses heard and they shook their heads. Sometimes farmer Bo peaked out from behind a corner of his barn and I ceased directly.

When I make a song it feels like I ´m wrapping up a present! The coming days I find myself feeling murmurs and joy inside, but I don´t know why. So I start thinking: Why am I so happy today? Is it someone´s birthday, or did I win a lottery? And then I remember it is that new song that bubbles and warms me up from within.

It is so great to give away things and songs, at least it is if someone wants to receive it. It´s awful to give and give and you find no one wants to take it.

I am one of those who seek beautiful things. My eyes and ears just can´t get enough of that. Colours can not get be saturated or vivid enough, there can´t be too much tension in music ´cause I grow accustomed so fast. There must be something to dig for. The fact that nature has already invented all shapes, colours and sounds is fascinating.

Smells are some of the most beautiful things I know! A graveled road or asphalt after the rain when the sun warms it up. Warm, red house-paint on a sunny wooden wall. Tar. Resin. Younger sister´s scalp or older sister´s perfume that smelled like snuff.

The hard part is that I seek what money can´t buy. I take the long road through a coal-black forest, but discover much on the way. If I can´t reach what I seek, I´d rather stay empty-handed, than taking a middling substitute. That would only make me sad, reminding me even more of what I miss and that I couldn´t reach it.

When you are born, you are complete but then shell after shell is added as protection against dangers around. Or society forces you to take different parts, needs and patterns you don´t really need or want. Then one can spend the rest of one´s life finding and removing the bad shells, and saving the good ones, one by one. At least that´s what I want to do.

Helena Josefsson (Sandy Mouche)




Emma Sonesson ("Billy") from Sweden has created some websites about Helena Josefsson:

Edited (June 2007): The forum seems empty now. You can visit: