Håkan Hellström
För sent för edelweiss
Dolores
There are few albums I have fallen for quite as hard as Håkan Hellström's debut "Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg". For many, this first album is Hellström's high-water mark. In reviews of his subsequent records, "Känn ingen sorg..." is cast as a specter that Hellström is haunted by, an accomplishment he has not been able to match or surpass. That being said, "För sent för edelweiss" does not eclipse Hellström's debut, but it matches this earlier triumph. "För sent för edelweiss" shows that Hellström is a versatile artist and songwriter, creating a brilliant album that amalgamates the distinctly Swedish sound his first album reveled in with a Springsteen-esque quality -- capturing both Springsteen's talents with anthemic compositions (not that Hellström himself is in anyway lacking when he sets his mind to the anthemic) and the Boss' remarkable ability to craft slower, more moving numbers, with Hellström layering in his own distinct sound throughout. Opener "Tro och tvivel" feels like a track off of the seminal "Born to run", its final moments paying homage to Springsteen's "Backstreets". "Zigenarliv dreamin", the strangest addition to the album, though one that has grown on me, only strengthens the comparisons between Hellström's newest and the records of the 1960s and 70s. In "Kärlek är ett brev skickat tusen gånger", I hear echoes of Van Morrison; the wonderfully lo-fi production enriches the opening of the title track, amplifying the Simon & Garfunkel quality of the song; "Kär i en angel" feels like the songs of the 60s and 70s that Jens Lekman emulates; and it's difficult not to sense a touch of Bruce Springsteen in "För en lång lång tid", my favorite from this album, and one of the best songs I've heard in the past few years.
Is "För sent för edelweiss" a flawless album? By no means. Though neither was "Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg", if you get down to it. Håkan Hellström's faults are part of his immense charm, and the artist succeeds so much more than he stumbles here. It's hard to even remember the faulty aspects of the album while listening to songs like "Kärlek är ett brev..." and "Långa vägar", and it's even harder to stop listening to "För en lång lång tid". I'll be very surprised if this album is not high up on my best of 2008 list. If you're one who believes that Håkan Hellström lost his way a bit after 2000, "För sent för edelweiss" is more than ample evidence that he's back.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
