Mikael Herrström
For me, December usually feels like a pleasant and calm period, waiting for Christmas. People around me gets a little happier, my children think that everyday has some extra excitement, nice summaries of the year and thoughts about what has been and what is to come pop up every day in the blog reader, in the newspapers and in other media.
That is, until five or six days before Christmas eve. Then it hits me. Ouch, so little time left, so much to do. Buy things, fix things, cook, plan the holidays and so on. And the New Year-holiday is just around the corner. Well, I have of concluded that it’s all my head of course. I mean, what could really happen? Will they ban me from the stores next year because I don’t shop enough, will the family say “Yuck!” when they taste the Christmas food or will I be less loved because I didn’t have time to send all the Christmas greetings? A lot of noise in my head, that places me anywhere but here and now.
The question then is how I stop this endless noise going on? One way is to listen to music. But I need music that really makes me stop and listen, music that catches my attention and makes me come back to reality. For me, Mikael Herrström’s music has this effect. Mikael has an honest and urgent voice. In an atmosphere that sometimes reminds me of Nick Cave, he presents his thoughts, and the noise disappears. And today, the day before Christmas Eve, this voice is really needed.
For many Mikael Herrström is no stranger. He has produced Thåström, Stefan Sundström, Mattias Hellberg and many others, and he has played with a lot of artists. But that he also is a solo artist, is maybe less known, and that his songs are as strong as he shows in the songs below, I really hope more people discover. The tracks come from his album “The Second Waltz”, an album where he gets help from artists like Martin Hederos, Pelle Ossler and Andreas Söderström.
If you haven’t heard it already, you should also listen to his version of Hanoi Rocks’ “Dead By X-mas”, with Martin Hederos on the piano, which I presented a couple of days ago.
Consumer Citizen
Fate & Destiny
The Second Waltz
After listening to Best-of Christmas albums too many times, too many Christmases, I thought it would be nice to find some new favourites. And why not start looking among all the artists we have presented here at Meadowmusic?
There’s been too little blues on meadowmusic.se, no doubt about it. At least if we’re talking about pure blues in it’s basic form. Of course the blues is present in a lot of the music we have presented, as an inspiration, a base and an origin of many of the different styles of music that have been presented here. But to dig down to the true soil of the blues isn’t easy; to expose this naked, dirty ground of yourself so we can feel it and also to add something new to this is limited to a few people.
Like a little mountain brook with the clearest water, sometimes floating still and sometimes purl, striding through small waterfalls; that’s how I feel when I listen to Maja Alderin’s voice. Already the first time I heard “Darlin'” it got to me. There’s something catching, touching, magical about Maja’s voice that I won’t even try to explain in words, as I may only make a mess of it for myself. Listen for yourself is probably the best advice.
