Published on Apr 26, 1999
If the movie
Blast From The Past is remembered for anything, it probably
will be for the song “I See The Sun” from rocker Tommy Henriksen.
While I have yet to see the movie (it was either that or
The Rugrats Movie I took my daughter to, gimme a break), I
can imagine the song works on two levels. On one side, I can see it
relating to Brendan Fraser’s character discovering the outside
world he’s been sheltered from for years. On the other hand, I can
see it as the discovery of love between Fraser and Alicia
Silverstone.
What many people might not know is that Henriksen has his own
self-titled album out including this track – and if people aren’t
willing to give him a chance, he may seem to be doomed to the hall
of one-hit wonders. Fortunately for Henriksen, he has something
going for him: the bulk of the material on this album is just as
strong as the hit single.
Right off the bat, Henriksen strikes me as a modern-day Peter
Gabriel. He often seems to cloak his songs in deeper meanings, he
isn’t afraid to take chances with the sounds in his music (hence
the sound effect of broken glass in “I See The Sun”), he’s not
afraid to slow things down to a crawl and espouse the power of
ballads (“Uneasy Street” – unfortunately, the weakest track on the
album.)
But Henriksen has one thing down pretty well: the art of
songwriting. He knows how to craft a catchy hook and shape it into
a song, but moreso than that, he knows how to create the song
around the hook and make it just as memorable and well-constructed.
Tracks like “If I Could,” “Right Here By My Side” (which could
easily be the next single) and “Tell Me Why” all show Henriksen’s
mastery of this art.
Henriksen does take one major chance on
Tommy Henriksen: he brings in former punk priestess Nina
Hagen to do background vocals on “Beyond Life”. To older listeners
like myself, one might wonder what Henriksen was thinking prior to
listening to the track; to younger listeners, they might not see
Hagen as influential these days. And then, near the end of the
song, she lets loose with some emphatic, beautiful wails that add
to the power of the song. Obviously, Henriksen knew exactly what he
was doing; here’s hoping this could open the door for Hagen to
return to prominence.
While
Tommy Henriksen is an album that challenges you to listen to
it multiple times in order to truly appreciate the ten songs on it,
it is also an album that you can extract some pleasure out of after
only one listen. Henriksen is an artist we should be hearing a lot
more from this year. Break out of the soundtrack mindframe, and
take a chance by plunking down the cash for this album. You will
not be disappointed.