Helena Deland. Photo by Tess Roby.
Over the past two years, Montreal's Helena Deland has been busy flexing. Her 2020 project Someone New was sparkling with passion in a way too few indie-rock albums do, and in 2021 she released Hildegard, a thrilling and luxurious collaboration with Ouri. Deland is not exactly one for frills in her music, but her newest single "Swimmer" strips things back into a ghostly folk song where Deland's voice perches itself above doleful acoustic guitar lines. Watch the video below:
In a statement, Deland described how the song was inspired by her mother's battle with a terminal illness. Read it below:
“A little while after finding out that my mother was sick and that our days together were numbered, I went through a fundamental change, faced as I was with the need to reconsider things I had taken for granted. Growing older with her was now an impossible scenario, but I was being offered a suspension, some time to understand and try to change patterns that had been detrimental to our relationship, and to love her how I wished for her to be loved.
I feel that we are in a similar predicament with the world, faced with the climate crisis.
Some losses are too big to wrap our minds around. Here, I am on the beach, watching my mother swim, faced with the immensity of the ocean, of our fragility, riding the troughs of magical thinking and crests of acceptance.”
"How detailed and hopeful,
how exact
everything is in the light
on the rippling sand,
at the edge of the turning tide —
its upheaval —
its stunning proposal —
its black, anonymous roar."
-Mary Oliver, "Clamming", Dreamwork
In February, Deland will perform across the world opening shows for Andy Shauf and The Weather Station.
Helena Deland tour dates
2/17 - Los Angeles, CA - Moroccan Lounge
2/19 - Salt Lake City, UT - The State Room *
2/21 - Denver, CO - Globe Hall *
2/23 - Minneapolis,MN - Turf Club *
2/24 - Madison, WI - High Noon *
2/25 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall *
2/26 - Toronto, ON - Longboat Hall
3/1 - Quebec, QC - Le Pantoum
3/3 - Montreal, QC - Le National
3/5 - Brooklyn, NY - Baby’s All Right
3/13 - San Francisco, CA - Bimbo’s 365 Club ™
3/15 - Seattle, WA - Neptune Theatre ™
3/16 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater ™
3/25 - University City, MO - Blueberry Hill Duck Room ™
3/26 - Louisville, KY - Zanzabar ™
3/29 - Richmond, VA - Richmond Music Hall ™
3/30 - Washington, DC -Black Cat ™
3/31 - Philadelphia, PA - Union transfer ™
4/18 - Düdingen, CH - Bad Bonn ™
4/19 - Lyon, FR - Epicerie Moderne ™
4/20 - Bordeaux, FR - Krakatoa ™
4/21 - Paris, FR - Le Trianon ™
4/22 - Rouen, FR - Le 106 ™
4/23 - Luxembourg, LU - Kulturfabrik ™
4/24 - Utrecht, NL - TivoliVredenburg ™
4/25 - Rotterdam, NL - Rotown ™
4/26 - Nijmegen, NL - Doornroosje ™
4/28 - Copenhagen, DK - Loppen ™
4/29 - Oslo, NO - Ingensteds ™
4/30 - Stockholm, SE - Nalen Klubb ™
5/2 - Hamburg, DE - Knust ™
5/3 - Berlin, DE - Silent Green ™
5/5 - Brussels, BE - Les Nuits Botanique ™
5/6 - Cologne, DE - Luxor ™
5/7- Genk, BE - Little Waves Festival ™
5/9 - Birmingham, UK - Castle and Falcon ™
5/10 - Edinburgh, UK - Summerhall ™
5/11 - Glasgow, UK - Drygate ™
5/12 - Manchester, UK - Gorilla ™
5/13 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social ™
5/14 - Bristol, UK - Fiddlers ™
5/15 - Brighton, UK - Chalk ™
5/16 - London, UK - Shepherds Bush Empire ™
5/18 - Belfast, UK - Empire ™
5/19 - Dublin, IE - Button Factory ™
* - with The Weather Station
™ - with Andy Shauf
