Helena Deland – “Swimmer”

Tess Roby

Helena Deland – “Swimmer”

Tess Roby

Helena Deland released her debut album Someone New back in 2020, and now — after rolling out her first Hildegard album with Ouri last year — she’s about to take those songs on the road, opening for first the Weather Station and then Andy Shauf. First, though, she’s returned with a new song called “Swimmer.”

“Swimmer” is dedicated to Deland’s mother, who passed away last year. Here’s what Deland wrote about it:

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”, Dream Work

Listen below, and get ticket info for Deland’s tour here.

TOUR DATES:
02/17 Los Angeles, CA @ Moroccan Lounge
02/19 Salt Lake City, UT @ The State Room *
02/21 Denver, CO @ Globe Hall *
02/23 Minneapolis,MN @ Turf Club *
02/24 Madison, WI @ High Noon *
02/25 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall *
02/26 Toronto, ON @ Longboat Hall
03/01 Quebec, QC @ Le Pantoum
03/03 Montreal, QC @ Le National
03/05 Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right
03/13 San Francisco, CA @ Bimbo’s 365 Club ™
03/15 Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre ™
03/16 Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater ™
03/25 University City, MO @ Blueberry Hill Duck Room ™
03/26 Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar ™
03/29 Richmond, VA @ Richmond Music Hall ™
03/30 Washington, DC @ Black Cat ™
03/31 Philadelphia, PA @ Union transfer ™
04/18 Düdingen, CH @ Bad Bonn ™
04/19 Lyon, FR @ Epicerie Moderne ™
04/20 Bordeaux, FR @ Krakatoa ™
04/21 Paris, FR @ Le Trianon ™
04/22 Rouen, FR @ Le 106 ™
04/23 Luxembourg, LU @ Kulturfabrik ™
04/24 Utrecht, NL @ TivoliVredenburg ™
04/25 Rotterdam, NL @ Rotown ™
04/26 Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje ™
04/28 Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen ™
04/29 Oslo, NO @ Ingensteds ™
04/30 Stockholm, SE @ Nalen Klubb ™
05/02 Hamburg, DE @ Knust ™
05/03 Berlin, DE @ Silent Green ™
05/05 Brussels, BE @ Les Nuits Botanique ™
05/06 Cologne, DE @ Luxor ™
05/07 Genk, BE @ Little Waves Festival ™
05/09 Birmingham, UK @ Castle and Falcon ™
05/10 Edinburgh, UK @ Summerhall ™
05/11 Glasgow, UK @ Drygate ™
05/12 Manchester, UK @ Gorilla ™
05/13 Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social ™
05/14 Bristol, UK @ Fiddlers ™
05/15 Brighton, UK @ Chalk ™
05/16 London, UK @ Shepherds Bush Empire ™
05/18 Belfast, UK @ Empire ™
05/19 Dublin, IE @ Button Factory ™

* Supporting the Weather Station
™ Supporting Andy Shauf

Tess Roby

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