SWEDISH ARTIST HELGA'S NEW TRACK IS A BATTLE CRY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Be prepared for an intense ride into the dark sounds of Swedish artist Helga, as she shows off her skilful Gaelic-influenced vocals, reminiscent of Alt-Rock singer Plumb and nature-esque music production that instantly throws you visually to a movie scene from Lord Of The Rings via the use of Tribal Drums which carries the tempo and a masterfully performed, Electric lead guitar, similar to Chris Isaak’s Rockabilly style of playing, specifically his 1986 track “You Owe Me Some Kind Of Love,” all accomplished on her predominantly minor-chord structured piece, she has entitled “Battle Song.” With the use of very little percussion (with the exception of a snare containing the utmost breathy reverb, used as part of the song’s build up from the instrumental section into the second verse), Helga solely relies on atmospheric sounds of obscure, background John Carpenter-esque synths and her own haunting voice to present to you, possibly the darkest song ROUGH ONLINE have  heard all year, and she has 100% nailed it.

Whilst referring specifically to the pitch-perfect voice of Helga, a sound which is right up ROUGH’s street, we haven’t heard a singer like this since the late Dolores O’Riordan of The Cranberries, specifically showcased in Battle Song’s finale which ends with an acapella melody, as if she is singing to the highlands of Scotland, and when reaching her higher register in the chorus you are thrown back to Canadian artist Chantal Kreviazuk’s beautiful tone, as she sings “brothers, no surrender, we will live this together.” You can tell, even by hearing the “oh, wah-oh” ad-libs in the post-chorus instrumental sections that Helga must be inspired by 90’s female Indie singers like Paula Cole and Sarah McLachlan, but has decided to take this genre to a more sinister route, which ROUGH ONLINE applaud for its’ fearless, risk-taking approach, and the result is quite frankly a disturbing and ghostly musical experience, and we are in awe of it. This is how you grab someone’s attention with your art on first release…a piece of music which could easily throw you back to the angst-ridden sound of Sinead O’Connor’s 1987 single “Troy.” No doubt that Helga will gain a universal cult following in no time. Check out “Battle Song” out now.