Helene Blum
Album: Men Med Abne Öjne
Label: Westpark
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.heleneblum.dk

As you can probably tell from the album title, "Men Med Abne Öjne" and apologies for the lack of inflection on some of the letters, and the website address, Helene Blum hails from Denmark, an area that together with other parts of Scandinavia seems to be not only going through a local boom, but also reaching out to British musicians for wider collaboration.

The album, the title of which translates as, "But With My Eyes Open" is Helene's fourth since she became the first folk graduate from the Carl Neilsen Acadamy and brings together her interpretations of Danish folk songs as well as her other love, classical music and that follows into the compositions she wrote herself and in collaboration with others.

One of those others is Martin Simpson, who co-wrote an English/Danish duet, "Nar Forst Vi Har Sagt Farvel" (Once We Have Said Goodbye), which not only contrasts the sounds of the two languages, but also the vocal qualities of the voices involved, both perfectly suited to the role they have to perform, Martin's earth vocal, with Helene's more ethereal one.

In her native Denmark, Helene is known as "the girl with the voice of an angel" and it's easy to see why as her clear vocal is one of the dominating features of the record. Whilst I may be able to understand little of what is being sung, you can feel the emotion flowing through the song.

"Men Med Abne Öjne" is an album that's easy to recommend, you can feel the life and vitality coming through. This is quality contemporary folk that's good in any language, Helene Blum a singer of the first order

Neil King