Defining Moments

Listening Post 113. The great Jim Croce could only dream of capturing Time in a Bottle, but on her fifth solo album the Danish folksinger and songwriter Helene Blum succeeds in making the clock stand still. Each song on Dråber af tid (Droplets of Time) revolves around a defining moment—a marriage proposal, a lullaby, a separation, a war’s end—the narrative unit around which life stories are built. The album offers stunning music, evocative imagery and, above all, Blum’s spellbinding voice—bright and poignant, magically fusing opera house resonance with small café intimacy. In a collection that includes traditional songs, works by Danish poets and Blum’s own compositions, the pinnacle is Friheden Station (Freedom Station), capturing love’s first moment: “I dreamed you floated over to me and whispered in my ear about our future,” she sings, “Time stopped when you took my hand” (video 1). Always surrounding Blum are her husband/master fiddler Harald Haugaard and their band, with arrangements perfectly sculpted to her voice. The spark of inspiration animates En lille dråbe blod (A Little Drop of Blood), giving new life to a century-old poem by Sophus Claussen—“Take your pen and write what’s in your heart/A new time is coming…and maybe it just needs you” (video 2). Some of the frozen moments have competing facets: Din fod skal gå (Your Feet Will Take You Far), about the miracle of birth, dances between pensive verse and soaring chorus; Et øjebliks stilhed (A Moment of Silence), inspired by the Danish-Prussian War of 1864, shifts from melancholy memory to stirring peace march; the mystical strings and steady voices in Som stjernerne på himlens blå (Like the Stars in the Sky) echo heaven and earth. If you haven’t heard Helene Blum’s music, it’s about time. (Pile House Records/Westpark Music)