Helena's Dynamo (III): Helena Josefsson releases his first solo album: DYNAMO - 28.02.07

Picture by Sanna Doolk, from Småland, SE (aka spaceless or Papillon)
- HJ Fanclub Portal

Picture by Maja Bäckström, from Stockholm, SE

Helena Josefsson releases her first solo album tomorrow.

Artist.......: Helena Josefsson
Album........: Dynamo
Label........: Elevator Entertainment/Capitol/EMI

01. ghosts 03:25

track title time

02. never never (my dynamo)* 03:21 - Second single
03. by your side 02:59 - First single
04. the moon is a grain of sand 03:40 - Side B in the first single
05. waterlily love 03:57
06. air-hostess 03:47
07. where does the unused love go 03:52
08. into the woods 03:47
09. sleepyhead 03:07
10. big bad wolf 04:06
11. meadow 03:54
12. pirate king 03:46
13. never never (reprise) 01:54

These are the strange credits from the album:

• Recorded at AGM Studios between 26.01.2006 and 11.07.2006.
• Helena Josefsson: Vocals, Lyrics*, Co-Producer, Vocal Arrangement, Piano, Saw, Tympani, Fender Rhodes, Portraits, Tack Piano, Claviola
• Christoffer Lundquist: Producer, Engineer, Synthesizer, Bass, Clarinet, Dobro, Flute, Guitar, Piano, Celeste, Zither, Vibraphone, Omnichord, Tin Whistle, Mastering, Mixing, Synthesizer Bass, Music Box, Bass Harmonica
• Erik Hjärpe (aka Voz Vibrante): Synthesizer, Piano, Sampling, Vibraphone
• Jens Jansson: Percussion, Drums, Breathing
• Per Blomgren: Choir, Chorus
• * Lyrics of Never never (My Dynamo): Dan Bonemark and Helena Josefsson.
  

T. Evensson, from The Daily Roxette, reviewed the album last week.

LJdM

Comments by fans:

Helena Josefsson, the girl from Per Gessle's "Mazarin," the girl from Son of a Plumber, the girl from behind The Ark, Andreas Johnson, from her own band Sandy Mouche and many others, is back. With her new debut album "Dynamo." "Dynamo" will be released February 28 on EMI Elevator Entertainment, Per Gessle's own label. Helena's first single from the album, "By Your Side," does well on the charts in Sweden. The follow-up "Never Never (My Dynamo)" was released to radio February 14. Helena will do lots of radio and TV for the release. Per Gessle himself sponsors her album and claims it will be a world hit, according to Expressen.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?' 'Either a troll or an artist' I replied to that question in the "My friends" books one had in elementary school. Being an artist or a songwriter is probably one of few lifestyles where you can be a troll at the same time? When you think about it, a troll and an artist have a lot in common. What I wanted, and still want, is the feeling of freedom, to be a part of nature, to have a place in a city, to find a good spot for picking mushrooms. To be OK to be like you are and still get loved at the same time!" Helena says.

"Once when I was a kid my mom got angry with me and then I made myself a sad song as comfort. Since then it has always been like that. Just that the songs have been about other things: love, revenge, to be afraid of everything, consideration, to feel inadequate, longing, then, now, later.
The music my mom played at home was a mix of Kate Bush, the '80s David Bowie, The Temptations, Enya, all the soul queens, Bruce [Springsteen] and a record that was on heavy rotation for 15 years was Jane Fonda's aerobics vinyl with everything from The Jacksons' 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' in a disco-soul version and Jane cheering on. It never gets old!
I've always sung, if I am to describe my music it sounds like my maternal grandparents were Kate Bush and Michael Jackson, and my paternal grandparents were Madonna and Nick Drake!" she continues.

The album is recorded in Christoffer Lundquist's studio the Aerosol Grey Machine using hand picked musicians like Martin Josefsson (Sandy Mouche,) Erik Hjärpe (Damn! Timbuktu) and Jens Jansson (Brainpool). "My goal with the recording was to get the contrast between glowing hot and icy cold, plastic and wood, between the most beautifully beautiful and the ugliest ugly. Like an enchanting siren of the woods with a black soggy hole in her back!" says Helena, who has written all the material herself.

Thomas Evensson, from Ljusdal, SE - TDR

Helena has a unique voice. We all agree with that, don’t we? Her music is special, I find it a bit mistic though.

Emma Sonesson (aka BiLLY) - HJ Fanclub Portal

Helena is great!!! The songs are amazing and the most important thing in all this - is her brillian voice!!!! )))) Good luck with everything you do!! Hugs!!

Ilya Volkov -(a.k.a. Kreecher)- Roxette House

I also think she’s a very special artist, I like her song “By your side” very much, in my opinion it sounds very original and fresh. Never never is a very good song too. I wish her all the best in her solo carreer. Looking forward to listening to the album. Helena rocks!!!

Ángela Peralta, from Zaragoza, ES -
aka Miss Misery / Miss Teacher

The songs i have listened to so far sound great i cant wait for the album to arrive next week

Louise Rees (aka welshroxer), Wales, UK

-------------------------------------------------------------

In order to promote the album, Helena has played
today at "Mycket mer än musli" MTV show.
The show (TV Promo) was recorded in Stockholm
and is broadcasted on March 3rd

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Helena's Dynamo (II): Nyhetsmorgon, TV4 and helenajosefsson.com

Well the site has now been up for about 1 minute and so far it´s looking stable. I want to give a big thank you to my team I have worked with on this project. I can´t mention any names but you know who you are.

Björn Folbert, from Löddköpinge, SE
- folbertdotcom

Welcome to the first official H.J. site! Martinique is trying to add parts of my new album.

I hope you like it here. Me and my lovely webmaster will try to make it a lively place with news and pictures of events popping up frequently! The promo pictures were taken by Jeffery Richt. And it feels splendid to have my very own guestbook here, too. Or maybe I should say, your very own guestbook!

Thank you for coming here. And I will do my best to come to a stage near you in the near future!

Helena Josefsson - H.J.

Comments by fans:

Finally! I've been waiting for your official page. It's lovely hear. I hope that I'll have a chance to listen to your whole album since these three songs on myspace are amazing. Good luck with the promotion.

Kamila Aleksandrowicz,
from Białystok, Poland

Hello Helena just want to say what a great site and i cant wait for your album to arrive

Louise Rees (aka welshroxer), Wales, UK

Hej Helena! Is everything alright? I want to know, how your album sounds. More in the way like "By your side" or are there other things? I think your voice is so kind ... it would be good for soundtracks for example. Okay and what is Martin doing... Hey man, I need your CD!!! Wish you all the best. Kisses from jolly Eichwalde

Dominic Schimmelpfennig, from Berlin

I just listened to "Never Never", and wow, it's probably my favorite song by you yet (either solo or with Sandy Mouche). Being in South America, I'll have to import the album, but I don't care, it's worth the money. Cheers, and may we soon see you 'round these parts :)

Ricardo Colmenares, from Venezuela
- RC's MySpace

My band and I performed live at "Nyhetsmorgon" on the Swedish tv channel TV4.

The songs were "By your side" and "Never never". I was also interviewed.

We are waiting for a direct link from TV4 but if you can´t wait....go here and wait for about 1h 30min and you will see and hear the first song.

Helena Josefsson - H.J.

Comments by fans:

Just watched the Nyhetsmorgon clips. It's my first time watching you perform live, aside from your appearances with Per Gessle, and it was incredible :) You transmit such emotion when you perform, it feels so sincere and real, very unlike most other pop artists today. You're a Star with a capital "S"

Ricardo Colmenares (Venezuela)- RC's MySpace

Sandy Mouche's poems grow up abroad (VIII): album in Belgium (2006 · 02 · 15) and Canadian radio

“... and poems for the unborn”
(released in Belgium 2007 · 02 · 15

“"Sandy Mouche ..."and poems for the unborn" was released in Belgium!”

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

The first day of February I played 28 songs. Number 21 was "Une histoire"(JC Remix), by Sandy Mouche.

Marc Xavier Leblanc, from Canada - DJ Bones

Per Blomgren (Sandy Mouche's drummer) has been working in a new project in his home Tirup and Malmö. The new band is called "If I say yes" and has released three free songs in Myspace

Vocals and guitar: Erik Alexandersson
Bass: Jonas
Drums: Per Blomgren

Erik has worked with Martin Alfredsson in the band Sons of Brother Justin. Erik and Jonas also have recorded other songs under the name Alla kungens män

Helena's Dynamo (I): Never never (my dynamo)

Helena releases today her second solo single, NEVER NEVER. It contains two songs:

1. Never never (my dynamo) - It is now in Swedish radio
2. Fire - It will be included only in this single.

The album, DYNAMO, will be released on 28th February.

The new single by Helena Josefsson, NEVER NEVER (MY DINAMO), is a song about the life in the city.

The citizens live surrounded by concrete and locks. We´re almost like shoes in a box. We don't know what the sky is like: usually a skyscraper´s blocking the sight.

People avoid every glance, facing the ground all ashamed: "a citizen must play the game".

Helena cries against this life-style and dare to give someone a chance: "Never never. I won't be alone 'cause forever you'll light up my sky high. Live forever: you're my dynamo. Never ever stop spreading light".

LJdM

“What about Christoffer Lundquist?” I hear you chant in chorus. As usual he’s working around the clock in the comfort of his knobs, faders, tubes and capasitors. A taste of his neverending strive for excellence can be heard on Helena Josefsson’s new album. Helena has taken a break from Sandy Mouche and will release her EMI solo dubut on Feb. 28. Preview the single iTunes or on her MySpace page.

Magnus Börjeson - Junk Musik

P, C & C in a Rox-Plumber-Box (VIII): AGM Studios, Reveal, Junk and Luke Jackson

Per Gessle, Clarence Öfwerman and Christoffer Lundquist (P, C & C) began the year in a Rox-Plumber box.

January was a month of unwon prizes. Roxette was once again nominated for a Rockbjörnen award in Aftonbladet's annual ceremony, in the Swedish Group of the Year category. Unfortunately, Bodies Without Organs (BWO) took the award this year. During the previous years, Roxette has already received six Rock Bears. "The RoxBox/Roxette 86-06" didn't get a Grammis in the awards ceremony in January. Roxette's 20th anniversary release was nominated in the open category with five other compilations. The winner was "Samtliga grammofoninspelningar 1921-1970," a compilation of old Evert Taube-recordings. According to EMI Sweden Roxette's "Hits!" has now reached gold in Sweden, which means 30,000 delivered copies, as per usual.

P, C & C have continued the recordings for a new Gessle's album (probably in Swedish) that began in September 2006. The work at the AGM studio could finish in March 2007. Helena Josefsson has taken part again as backing singer. And Jens Jansson, the usual drummer, has become dad.

The next single off of Roxette's "Hits!" is "Reveal" and will be released tomorrow (February 14th).

• 01: Reveal (The Attic remake) 3:29 - According to TDR, "a poppy ditty that reminds one of early Depeche Mode".
• 02: Reveal (Kleerup remix) 3:41 - "A slower, heavy with drums and strings, dance mix. Kleerup has worked with Robyn, among others", says TDR.
• 03: Reveal (single version) 3:43 - "We prefer the sound, less weak as the album one", according to LJdM's editor.
• 04: One Wish Video - "Not one of our favourites", says LJdM's editor.

Last Brainpool's project, the rock opera Junk, will be premiered at Los Angeles this spring. We have not many news about it but it is marvelous that it could be played live. We simply loved the album.

If you want to imagine P, C & C recording at AGM studios, just watch Canadian artist Luke Jackson doing it. Very good pop music, by the way.

LJdM

EMI Blue Note was releasing the Son of a Plumber album in the US, but as EMI is down-sizing now I've just received a thanks but no thanks. Too bad, as my contact at Blue Note just loved the album. I'm still shopping around though, as the album is quite timeless it doesn't matter if it's not released in 2007.

Per Gessle

Mixing a track from Luke Jackson's new album "And Then Some" at Christoffer Lundquist's studio in Sweden.

Hey, that’s our friend Luke Jackson recording at AGM in January with three junkies (Chris Lundquist, Jens Jansson and Magnus Börjeson) relaxing in the background. Luke’s album will be finished in May. When you take pics of yourself with a fish-eye lens, it looks like you are holding a huge camera. To me, that is very funny. But then again, I might need a holiday.

Anders Mildner

Junk Musik

I returned to Sweden in January 2007 and set to work in the studio with Magnus Börjeson on bass and Christoffer Lundquist’s Brainpool bandmate Jens Jansson on drums. The four musicians worked quickly and spontaneously to capture half a dozen songs, including “Come Tomorrow” which I had begun writing the day before leaving for Sweden. I returned to London buzzing with excitement.

Luke Jackson - Popsicle

Maybe it’s time for a “hardware” update as well. What are the Junk people doing in real life? Anything Junk related? Anything else? A bit of both it turns out.

We’re starting with Mom & Dad, the previously publicised, highly hyped and awesomely anticipated kraut konzept from Jens Jansson (Mom) and David Birde (Dad) of Brainpool. To our joy Mom recently became a dad. And as Dad says, “the confusion is now at a maximum”. But they will straighten out, contain themeselves and finish what they’ve started. Hopefully this spring. We wait wantingly.

And what about the Metro Jets album that was talked and blogged so much about here on Junk during the recent Fall? Well to some, this liberating Brecht-esque idea of making an album in public quickly went from being the great motivator to the great restrainer. How do you keep a subconscious process going while simultaneously stopping to think and write about it? Beats me. And we’ve got a whole lot of nothingness to prove it … But in the great words of Mr Nick Lowe “I’ve been a lot of things but I never was a quitter, I’m a …”. So we keep keeping on. Off-line. With the occasional text and sound update here on Junk. Same as it ever was… same as it ever was… And it’s fun again.

Magnus Börjeson - Junk Musik

We're very happy to tell you that our friend Shakina Nayfack will direct the stage version of Junk - A Rock Opera! JUNK will make its stage debut at the Steve Allen Theatre in Hollywood, California, May 18/19 & 25/26, 2007. This production will be the first in a series of development workshops set to take the show from LA to Chicago, and ultimately New York in 2008-9. It has begun...

Brainpool - brainpool.nu

Helena's first single (VIII): Helena Josefsson with her whole band in Stockholm

Helena Josefsson played yesterday night at the Restaurant Landet, Midsommarkransen, Stockholm. She performed her solo stuff the first time with her whole band.

Sean Wiklund, from Sweden wrote: "Hi Helena! I was at "Landet" when Helena Josefsson had her releaseparty for her record. After I bought the CD, I haven't been able to stop listening, especially to "Never never (My dynamo)", that makes me so happy, and totally adore the sound and chorus in that song so much. "By your side" is also really good. The chorus in that song is also that good that it get stuck (in a good way) in my mind. I wish you the best of luck in the future. You are a shining star!"

Some German fans (Heike, Nicole and Melanie) were there and took some nice photos.

With the German fans after the performance

Helena's first single (VII): Helena played again in Malmö

Helena Josefsson performed with Martinique Josefsson (guitar) and Christoffer Andersson (piano) yesterday night at Craft Club (Ristorante Amore) in Malmö. The new solo album by Helena will be released very soon (on 28th February).

Meanwhile, Helena Josefsson's new website is under construction.

LJdM