(Tuva) Herou is a Gothenburg-based artist and producer working within the genre of what she calls “dreamy alternative indie” and she releases her EP ‘Ljusspel’ (‘Play of Light’) on 29th May.
The four-track EP is built on themes of darkness, light, and the interplay between them.
A quote about a previous EP offered an observation on something that “sounds like what it would be if Kate Bush got hold of a songbook with lyrics in Swedish.” Naturally I was curious. Many people get compared to Eltham’s finest when in reality they sound more like George Bush.
Two of the EP’s tracks, ‘Träd’ (‘Tree’) and ‘Hem’ (‘Home’), have already been released as singles so as we’re writing about the EP before it is actually released – if only by a few hours – I selected ‘Träd’ as the sample track here.
The other reason I chose to do that is that I began to suspect that Herou might belong within the pantheon of (usually female) Swedish singer-songwriters that have a penchant for writing about the environment, sustainability and what have you. Artists like Resmiranda and Gaeya, who was here only a week or so ago and who is equally concerned with the world’s tendency towards suicidal disconnection.
The title alone, ‘Träd’, hinted that she might be.
And indeed her lyricism does strongly suggest that.
The dystopian imagery is not merely of trees shedding their leaves but of falling down or being blown down and it is repeated frequently.
The newspapers of utopia would be terribly dull (thank Arthur C Clarke and ‘2001 – a Space Odyssey’ for that quote). But here Herou pleads merely that they should report some good news rather than the endless diet of dark headlines and grim records, where the numbers keep mounting.
She even introduces a theme I’ve never previously encountered in a song, namely “a streak of hatred hidden in the DNA that all of us carry”. Grim stuff indeed.
In some ways she echoes the position of Shakespears Sister in their glorious ‘Hello (turn your radio on’) –
“And as I stumbled through last night’s drunken debris/The paperboy screamed out the headlines in the street/Another war and now the pound is looking weak”.
It isn’t all bad news though. Herou saves a little prayer for us right at the end, for a kinder, gentler existence, where happiness flourishes and laughter grows, “or simply, you live” (which again echoes ‘Hello’s “La, la, la, life is a strange thing/Just when you think you’ve learned how to use it/It’s gone”.
(I truly hope Herou doesn’t mind the comparison – it’s with one of the most thought-provoking songs ever written).
Musically the song is presented in a folk-pop style, more upbeat than you might expect, with strong and elaborate melody lines throughout and in which verses predominate over choruses and with a couple of short instrumental bridges which collectively suit the telling of a story.
And she has a sweet, dreamy but forceful soprano voice.
As for Kate Bush, well no, Herou doesn’t sound like her but I’m glad to report that she doesn’t sound like George either. She sounds like Herou and that’s who we want to hear.
(Continues after the Spotify link).
Again, the EP is released on 29th May. It might be out by the time you read this! There is a release gig the same evening at Göteborgs Hängmattan/Musikens hus.
Find her on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tuvaherou
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heroumusic/
