Tomas Stenström+Llojd @ Debaser Medis, October 10
The Swedish term ”sommarplåga” is unique, because there’s really no need to define a song that’s being played over and over again during the summer months. You just know it, deep down inside yourself, that you’ve heard that one song just a tad too many times.
Tomas Stenström’s ”Slå Mig Hårt I Ansiktet”, (literally, ’punch me hard in the face’) could definitely be categorized as one of those songs described in the previous paragraph. It’s been played over ten million times on Spotify, which is a lot for a teeny tiny country like Sweden.
Still, being an artist from Gothenburg, singing in Swedish about places around the west coast town, about love and despair, the connotations to Swedish legend Håkan Hellström are impossible to skew away from. I’m not saying his album Fulkultur isn’t good, I actually like ”Slå Mig Hårt I Ansiktet”, but he must’ve known the criticism against his apparent similarities to fellow gothenburger Håkan Hellström would appear. There are just too many of them.
Alas! Stenström has undoubtedly shown great potential and I have no doubt he’ll one day grow into an original recording artist. To show someone being broken into just that, go and catch him live at Debaser Medis.
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