Göteborgs-Posten 2021-11-12
By: JAN ANDERSSON
Helen Sjöholm has a new band and a whole bunch of new pop songs. How does it work? Well thank you, really excellent (…)
Google steady, safe or stable and you will be greeted by a picture of Helen Sjöholm. If the roof had collapsed or the fire brigade stormed in and evacuated the Concert Hall, the country’s safest singer would at most have raised an eyebrow and then continued to sing Du är min man (You Are My Man) without the slightest tremor in her voice – just as she did on Friday night and has done for almost 300 weeks at the Swedish charts.
The singer from Fridhemsgatan 54 in Sundsvall also excels in her old musical classics Gabriella’s song and Du måste finnas (You Have To Be There) (from Kay Pollaks As It Is In Heaven and Kristina from Duvemåla) but Friday’s concert also marks a fresh start and a kind of patchwork for Helen Sjöholm herself, as well as for her many fans.
After 25 years in the industry, the musical star decided last autumn to let go of the rim in earnest. Then her first solo album was released, with newly written songs, including by Annika Norlin, Anna Ternheim and Andreas Mattsson, and shortly afterwards she made a memorable guest appearance on TV4’s Så mycket bättre (So Much Better).
This concert night in Gothenburg also slides the new songs from both the album and the program basically seamlessly into the old songs from Benny Andersson’s Orchestra.
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Jakob Hellman’s Han har ett sätt (He has a way) that sounds like a clunky 1930s cabaret by Kurt Weill, and while Loreen’s Euphoria and Markus Krunegård’s Korallreven & Vintergatan (whose mesmerizing lines “human warmth please come closer” are tattooed on Mona Sahlin’s body) are fine-tuned and correct cozy, Pianoman slips from Helen Sjöholm’s album with Billy Joel covers (which in Tomas Andersson Wij’s Swedish translation has become Barpianisten) emerges as the worst rock smoker and gives guitarist Ola Gustafsson a moment to shine.
In addition, she throws in Mikael Wiehe’s and Ebba Forsberg’s beautiful Dylancover För att jag älskar dig (Make you feel my love) and succeeds with small, careful gestures to make it hers in the same way as Adele did almost 15 years ago.
But it´s still the songs from the latest album En ny tid (A New Time) that are at the center and really lift the evening. Andreas Mattsson nice Samma här (Same Here) gives similar “Carole King-meets-Agnetha Fältskog” vibes as on record. Even Mattsson’s I morse när du gick (This Morning When You Went) is a ballad that really sucks in and gives Helen Sjöholm a chance to embroider with all the colors of her voice.
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Jag är elden (I’m the Fire) gets even heavier live and gives drummer Andreas Dahlbäck a chance to sound like The Nationals Bryan Devendorf and guitarist Ola Gustafsson an opportunity to pick out his inner The Edge.
As the end draws to a close and Helen Sjöholm and the band are rewarded with a resounding and standing ovation after Gabriella’s song, they return for one last extra number with Benny Andersson’s Orchestra’s Vår sista dans (Our Last Dance), performed at the edge of the stage under colored lanterns. It´s a perfect end to a successful evening.
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(The full review is not reproduced for copyright reasons)