BEST OF 2009 : MY FAVOURITE RECORD

(Désolé pas de traduction en français pour mes billets consacrés au best of 2009 afin qu’ils conservent une taille raisonnable).

Dear Euphoria
Heal my violence
My previous posts about her : here, here, here, here, here, itv1 and itv2.
Mp3 : Dear Euphoria – Pop pills
Buy the record here.

Dear Euphoria – Pop Pills (artproject video by Zara Zetterqvist)

It is quite a long story. A beautiful one too. I first mentionned Dear Euphoria more than three years ago, back in September 2006. If my memory is correct it is actually Nina Kinert who told me I should listen to Elina Johansson aka Dear Euphoria. I liked the name. I listened to her music and was very suprised to totally love this naked voice/piano sound while it is usually not really my cup of tea. At this time she was unsigned and had just recorded her debut album For everything of worth on her own. It was featured in my best of 2006 thing. Then I published a first interview with her. Eventually she found a label, Stereo Test Kit, which re-released her debut record with some additional tracks and re-named it as Dear Euphoria. Then came Heal my violence. I mentionned it here with another Elina’s interview. She described it as “a schizophrenic mess with bits and pieces of beauty in it“. I could call it a “schizophrenic beauty with a lot of mess in it” as well.

This is a very dark album. But a beautiful one. Elina’s pure and clear voice is at her best on songs like Swimming or Jag vet inte. But whereas she only played with this natural gift on her first record, on this second one she tries more adventurous paths : Poem just a musical ballad, That you would a loop of few words and on Pop Pills – the summit of the record – she takes the exact opposite direction than in her other songs, destroying her voice in a angry electro background of noise. Stangely enough, Stereo Test Kit did not like this particular song while I truly think she should keep on experimenting in this direction. Well, maybe it was not the right label for her : Dear Euphoria is now unsigned again. What are the Swedish labels waiting for ? I don’t know. At least we have Heal my violence. A magical album. But watch out, I am talking about black magic here.