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Dave Helgi Johan – Drumheller

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Dave Helgi Johan - Drumheller

Dave Helgi Johan - Drumheller
3.8

Rating

 3.8/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Straight, nice folk songs
  • Mostly versatile listen

Flyctory.com Cons

  • A few weaker spots

Canada, Iceland, Australia – there are quite many influences in the bio of Dave Helgi Johan, a Canadian folk music artist. On 11th November 2022, he released his album Drumheller. I already had a listen to it and share my thoughts with you.

 

Dave Helgi Johan – About The Artist

Dave Helgi Johan is a Canadian folk singer-songwriter, who is originally from Gimli in Manitoba. The 6,000 people town has a strong Icelandic historic background. Nowadays, Dave Helgi Johan is a resident of Byron Bay, Australia.

 

Dave Helgi Johan – Drumheller – Track by Track

The nine song album lasts 34 minutes.

1. Fair-Weather Friend

The opener does not sound at all like the first song of a debut recording. Fair Weather Friend is a nice folk track with a wide instrumentation like very present harmonica. Nice and catching tune. Fun fact: the artist played all the instruments by himself – he even had to borrow some of them. Nice listen.

2. Get It Together

You never wanted to be together
I only wanted to see you forever
You didn’t like me to sent you a letter
That’s okay babe – still gotta get it together.

If this relation really lead to the big love? The song comes with the rhythm of a typical Irish pub music track, but the banjo rather moves it into the sphere of Americana genres. The blending of these different musical styles leads to a fascinating listen.

3. Firefly

Not only due to its sheer duration (six minutes), the Firefly is the dominating song of the album. Even though the dominating main theme does have a bit of an annoying touch, it simply stays in your mind. Beautiful listen.

4. Heartaches in Lake Forest Estates

The melody lines of Heartaches in Lake Forest Estates remind of handmade country music track. The Doo-doo-doo-doo in the chorus adds a lovely ease. This feel is also increase by the whistles in the background. One of my favorite songs, indeeed.

5. No Use

The fifth track is a rather straight forward, classy listen, which has a lot of radio potential (at least for the more nostalgic radio stations). A touch of traditional rock music on this album, which leads to another enjoyable listen. The bridge is not the highlight of the album, though.

6. Only A Week

Only A Week is the last of the three single releases on this album. Nice work in the guitar in here. The fade-out feels a bit extensive, but the song leaves a positive mark in the listener’s mind overall.

7. Second Chance

The seventh song is one of the weaker spots of the album in my point of view. The song as such is not a bad one at all, but overall, there is not too much character added to the album by Second Chance. It feels nice and subtle in the context of the other tracks.

8. Sooner (I Should Have Told You)

Even though the album seems to run-off with less highlights that at the beginning, Sooner (I Should Have Told You) feels better than the songs before. The clapping rhythm is attracting attention, the storytelling is really nice.

9. Take Me For All My Money

The three minute closer has a nice cheeky indie touch and adds some new flavor to the album. In addition, the song comes with a good chorus. Dave Helgi Johan closes his record with a good listen.

 

Dave Helgi Johan – Drumheller – Spotify

Here is the album on Spotify:

 

Dave Helgi Johan – Drumheller – My View

I absolutely like to listen to Drumheller. The album feels very relatable, comes with good songs and good stories. Dave Helgi Johan is not yet ready for the very high ratings – but if you like straight and honest folk music, this album is definitely a good option.

 

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