Jenny Wilson – Hardships

Presenter

shy swan

Published

Friday 12th June

If you dug her first P3 Gold Prize Award winning solo album, Love & Youth, Swedish singer/songwriter Jenny Wilson’s second solo album, Hardships! affirms her distinctive, pop electro-syncratic style.

Hardships!, as Wilson explains, is about “motherhood and the fight within”. Lyric-laden, poetic, melodic and at times, funky, Hardships! is toe-tappingly infectious. It’s an album for those special, perhaps pensive moments, embodied in tracks like The Wooden Chair or the eastern feel of Pass Me The Salt. The second song, Like A Fading Rainbow may launch this album just as Summertime – The Roughest Time did for Love & Youth. All sung in English, there’s lashings of D&M analytics, mirroring contemporary relationships, with enduring messages.

She’s in fine company on this album with guests Simone Rubi from Call & Response playing wurlitzer, synths, moog, farfisa and backing vocals, with backing vocals also from El Perro Del Mar’s Sarah Assbring and Mapei.
Wilson has recorded two previous full-length albums with her founding group, First Floor Power – There Is Hope (2001), which was sledged by a major Swedish zine then subsequently received acclaim from Time Out New York, and Nerves (2003). Since then, she’s developed a recognisably individual style, evidencing her influences in Missy Elliott, Kate Bush and Nina Simone.

Jenny Wilson is currently touring in Sweden and Finland with First Floor Power’s Sara Wilson (guitar and backing vocals), Andreas Sönderström (bass and backing vocals) and Lina Selleby (keyboards and backing vocals) who also works with the band Doktor Kosmos. With the look, her poignant, common touch lyrics and amazing dance acts in her troupe, she’s fast gaining appeal to a broader audience.