Interview with an Artist - Helena "Angel" Michaelsen
Updated: Jun 9, 2020
Helena Iren Michaelsen of Imperia is returning into her personal solo project Angel with the long-awaited sophomore release "A Woman's Diary - Chapter II" that is set to be released in late July via Massacre Records.
While the album draws near, she and I decided to have a chat once again and catch up on some of the latest updates in her music career, but as well some personal situations that inspired the sequel to "A Woman's Diary - Chapter I".
(WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES AND DETAILS ARE IN THE INTERVIEW PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION)
Joshua: "Hi and welcome Helena, it's great talking to you again, how's everything been aside from the COVID-19 crisis?"
Helena: "Hi Joshua, great to do another interview with you! Actually life's been very busy over here. Besides recording the solo album we're talking about here, I recorded another solo album with songs made only of vocals and piano, it's called 'A Woman's Diary - The Hidden Chapter' and will be released sometime later this year.
Besides that, a lot of my time of course is taken by the case around my daughter, which we will talk about later in this interview."
Joshua: "Yes, I can tell and that's what our interview will mostly focus on since last time we chatted was last year talking about the musical developments of your solo project Angel. Now, 'A Woman's Diary - Chapter II' will finally see light in a month, how excited are you about the release?"
Helena: "I'm super excited about the release of course. This album is extremely personal for me, and for the first time, I really got all the music exactly as I had envisioned the songs in my mind. There are two songs on there that are actually based on ideas I had written when I was 12 years of age, so that's how long it took until they finally found their way on an album, for me this is very special.
This album shows a side of me as a singer and artist that people haven't got to see so far, and I'm very excited to see what the reactions will be and hope it will be embraced by the audience."
Joshua: "Do you mind giving readers a refresher of what your solo project is and how's it different from your work with Imperia?"
Helena: "Though also with Imperia, we dare to be a bit experimental at times, it is a metal band, of course, the overall sound is typically massive with walls of heavy guitars, drums, huge orchestrations, and all those elements that belong with it.
With my solo project, there is complete freedom in terms of the style of the music, so it covers a much wider musical range. In general, the focus of course is more on my voice and the stories I'm telling, the arrangements are smaller and more intimate."
Joshua: "That actually brings up my next question, listed as Gothic metal by the label, there's no specific musical genre for Angel as heard in "A Woman's Diary - Chapter I", this project is more of a way to express your limits in other genres, correct?"
Helena: "Actually there are no genre limitations at all here, to be honest, I don't even think of that when we work on the songs. There is complete artistic freedom, whatever feels right and expresses the mood and atmosphere I want to achieve in a particular song, I will do."
Joshua: "Who collaborates with you in the conception of Angel's music?"
Helena: "That be Oliver Philipps, a musician/producer from Germany, he also happens to be my husband. We live together and have a really special artistic connection when it comes to music, it's like we're transmitting on the same frequency so it doesn't need many words to explain an idea I have, it all comes just naturally. The creation of the songs went very smoothly and easy, and it's the first time I really got my songs brought into the shape and form I actually had in mind.
Making this album was a very intense but also very joyful experience for both of us, which is probably why we made the piano album right after because it was too sad to already be finished with the album. 🙂"
Joshua: "It has been expressed that this is your personal project where the songs talk about your life which has always been an open book through music. What keeps you comfortable sharing all these personal stories with us?"
Helena: "I have no reason to feel uncomfortable about sharing these stories, I'm an honest and straightforward person in my private life, and I have the same approach as an artist. If I was a writer, I'd write a book about the story of my life, but because I'm a musician my natural way of expressing is to put in music and weave songs around my stories. So for me, this feels very natural and not uncomfortable at all. I also believe that a song gets the most intense when it comes from the heart and it's personal and meaningful to the artist performing it. The emotions going into it are what creates a resonance in a person who listens to a song, they're the reason why we react strongly to one song and completely not to another one and why different people react differently to different songs.
At the end of the day, every piece of music is just emotions transformed into a concrete shape. If you hear a song and react to it emotionally, that's because it deals with emotions you know and feels yourself, just expressed in a way that words alone can not manage, that's where much of the magic of music is coming from."
Joshua: "The album is set up as a diary where storytelling is a big factor in this project, as a songwriter how do you come across in making the lyrics and know what the music will match for that story?"
Helena: "A lot of my lyrics come really spontaneously, it's what is on my mind on a particular day or even moment of the day, and before I knew it, I made lyrics from it. Already then I have a vision of the music I want to go with, often I hear particular instruments/sounds in my head with it, I think more in 'moods' or 'spheres' than in notes or chords, but usually have singing lines already.
So the normal process in the making of this album is that I sing what I have to Oliver and explain as good as words can in what kind of sphere/mood I imagine in the music, and then he molds it into the notes and chords for me. This process is difficult to verbally describe, but more often than not, it works like a charm and we happen to sit with the finished song in no time, it's all just falls into place and comes together. I do not recall a moment in this album process where we felt we were creatively stuck or had a writer's block or something like that."
Joshua: "Let's start talking about the album, why did it take so many years for this album to be made?"
Helena: "That's mostly due to my private situation and everything that has happened in those years, there just was no time or the chance to do a second Angel album anytime sooner than this."
Joshua: "What direction will the second album take compare to the first album?"
Helena: "In a way, this new album is the album I already had in mind more than 10 years ago when doing the first Angel album, but I had to make quite a lot of compromises in the end. It was released on a metal label and put out as 'Gothic metal', I recorded it with my metal band, so even though it was less heavy than Imperia, it still had a 'metal' vibe to it. Don't get me wrong, I love that album and I'm proud of it, but I do recall that I wished to approach it with this complete freedom I have now, but back then that just wasn't possible yet.
On the new album, there are no compromises at all, it's exactly what I wanted it to be and exactly what I had in mind."
Joshua: "When it comes to the story and lyrics, is Chapter II going to be focusing on the events you had with Froland from 2014 till today, right?"
Helena: "It has been a big part of my life in those years so there's indeed several songs on the album that are lyrically dealing with this issue and the consequences it had on my life. But there are also songs that have nothing to do with it at all, it's not a concept album built around one particular topic only."
Joshua: "How did the issue between you and the kommune start?"
Helena: "It all started in 2011 with something as trivial as a neighbor conflict, back then I owned an old farmhouse in Froland where I lived with my daughter, Angel Maria. Froland is not a city but a kommune, my house was in the middle of the forest with a lake aside, kind of our own little paradise with only my daughter, myself and our animals in there. Two new houses got built next to mine and that's when hell started to break loose. First of all, there should've never been built any houses there, it was a nature protected area where no building was allowed. As it goes in that kind of rural areas, most of it is run by friends and families, so the people who wanted to build the houses knew people working at the building department of the kommune and then some laws got bent and twisted as much as needed to give them permission.
In the building process, a lot of explosives were used, which is nothing atypical in Norway as much of the ground is rocks. My water supply was coming from my own dwell I had on my property, and the explosives destroyed my water supply as well as my sewage system, so I sat with my daughter and animals in a house without water. I don't want to go into all the details here, I attach a link to a TV report that was made about the case back then:
However, in the end, I had to go to court with the case, both against the neighbors that caused the damage and against the kommune that allowed illegal building work and didn't take action against it. I won both cases, but I had no idea of the grotesque revenge that would come my way after that. The worst of all were these neighbors who lost innate court were giving false concern messages about the well-being of my daughter to the CPU of Froland kommune, so she was taken away from me and I'm fighting to get her back until this very day."
Joshua: "Has anyone in law enforcement try to help you out or they've been part of the issue?"
Helena: "We have not received any help at any point although asking for help repeatedly. In this case, it rather seems the police are covering the crimes than making any attempt to help the victims."
Joshua: "Are there other people in Froland that suffered from the hands in this same situation?"
Helena: "There was another woman in the area who also lived alone with her daughter there who had similar experiences with the same people. In the end, she also had to move away from there to live in peace, she had been threatened with a gun, they had set fire on her dog, her cat was hanging strangled from the porch, there's been really crazy things happening.
So yes, I'm not the only one who got into trouble with those people."
Joshua: "Where's your current position right now in this legal process?"
Helena: "Of course I try every legal option there is, I cannot count anymore on how many lawyers I had over the past 8 years. I've tried in several court cases to get my daughter out of it and back in my care and there is a new one coming up later this year, but my experiences so far have destroyed whatever faith I ever had in our legal system. I've even experienced lawyers of my own getting paid off so they would work against rather than for me. I experienced courts held that felt like a staged theatre play rather than a fair court, with manipulated evidence presented and with evidence of mine disappearing or being completely ignored.
This whole CPU system in Norway is currently getting a lot of attention worldwide since more and more victims are taking their cases to the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg (France) where the state of Norway lost every single of those cases and there are countless more cases still pending. This system turned into a grotesque atrocity where the rights of the children and parents get completely ignored and where it gets near impossible for them to get their right or even get heard."
Joshua: "How far has this story spread in? Have any other blogs, magazines, or websites shared this story around?"
Helena: "First of all, of course, I do whatever I can to spread it via social media, etc., to get as much attention to the case as possible. There also have been articles/stories about it in newspapers and
magazines, I send one with this interview as an example.
(The translation of the headline is 'My daughter is getting abused in the foster home')
But generally speaking, the media is relatively shy in picking this topic up, just very recently you notice a bit of a change there because of these cases that Norway lost at the HRC, this draws quite some attention and puts this topic more in the focus of the public. But there are limits with that as most of our media are not really independent, they usually have a political agenda and are partly owned by the kommune or state. So for instance, the newspaper 'Frolandingen' which is the daily paper in the kommune, it's 80% owned by them. That's not exactly how independent journalism is supposed to work, is it?
Joshua: "No, it isn't... With this information gathered, what do you hope to get out of listeners when they listen to 'A Woman's Diary - Chapter II'?"
Helena: "They placed my daughter in a completely isolated and deserted place in the forest, only a 13-minute drive from Froland, at their own family and friend's house. There she is exposed to violence and severe neglect, they have silenced her and taken away all her rights. There are several things said and documented that she also is a victim of child prostitution and trafficking from and within the foster home where they placed her. For example, she has asked me 'why do I have to bath when all the men are looking at me', and that she was forced to play a game she was hurt a lot, and has complained of pain between her
legs.
My ex-boyfriend is a police officer in Duesseldorf and one time when he was with me to see her, he reacted to the way she sat on his lap, in a way it seemed she was used to pleasing men. He really cried afterward experiencing this and felt helpless. I'm sending his concern message about that day that he sent to CPU Froland. She isn't allowed internet or phone, and she also has said 'I have something to whisper to mommy in the ear but we have to be alone'. Unfortunately, it's not unknown that children living in foster homes have been exposed to child prostitution and trafficking all over the world. I'm also sending some drawings she has made of abuse done to her and actual abuse footage. Those got sent to me by the people doing that abuse, in other words, they completely control her in the crime, silenced her voice, and hide her in this mentioned circumstance and place.
(WARNING: the files contains some unsettling details)
.I have a photo of her in my CD booklet and her voice on my album, to make sure she'll be seen and heard and to give some pressure in the hope that they will stop what they do to her and give her back to me."
Joshua: "What songs from the album the fans should feel emotional about?"
Helena: "As I said earlier, a person will resonate with a particular song if it transports an emotion she or he can relate to, so who will react to what particular song is of course not in my hands. But I am sure there's a lot of songs that will touch people, but everybody will pick their own favorites of course."
Joshua: "What keeps you going and inspired despite all of the setbacks and obstacles you've faced?"
Helena: "Actually, much of that is exactly what does keep me inspired. My music and lyrics are my life transformed into songs, so absolutely everything I experience in my life, be it good or bad, will come out in the shape of a song at one point or another.
So the setbacks and obstacles have not blocked, but rather fired up my inspiration and creativity."
Joshua: "What do you hope the future will hold for you and daughter once you get her back and the justice has been served?"
Helena: "I know that what my daughter has been through has caused a lot of physical and psychological damage in her, so when I get her back I know there is a long healing process ahead of us. They have stolen six years from both her and my life, and in those 6 years, she has experienced things no child should ever and also missed out on the normal development and socialization a child should have. So I'm aware that not all will suddenly be good overnight when I get her back, it'll be a very difficult task and challenge to help her find a way back into normal life, to trust people again, to do all the things children of her age are supposed to do. I'm prepared to do whatever is in my power to help her recover.
I also attach for you the recording of a telephone call between her and me from 2015 where she breaks down several times and amongst other things says that she is not given food. My plan was to have this included as a track on the album, but the record company decided they could not release this on a regular album and I had to respect that decision."
Joshua: "What is the one thing you hope people will remember you by once this battle is over?"
Helena: "Never give up on your children, and never give up on your rights."
Joshua: "Music has always been your strength while working on Angel, a new Imperia is also in the works. How's the progress in that?"
Helena: "As mentioned earlier, the album is almost finished, there are 14 tracks in total, we're working on the final track and it will go to Jacob Hansen for mixing at the end of the month."
Joshua: "Any details can you share on the next album?"
Helena: "As for the next album I'll make I have absolutely no clue yet, but I can tell you a bit about the piano album we already recorded that will come out. This one is just my voice and Oliver playing the piano, some of that is songs of our own, but the main part is cover versions of songs that are special to me for different reasons. It's a wild mix from Motorhead's 'Don't Let Daddy Kiss Me' to classics like 'Over the Rainbow.' This one was really made for the pure fun of it, we started making these kinds of covers without any intention to ever release it as an album, it was kind of a hobby at the side, something to do on a rainy Sunday let's say.
In the end, we sat down with so many songs and we actually liked what came out so much that we asked Massacre if they wanted to release a piano album. I mean already with Angel, I'm relatively far from the music that Massacre typically releases, but they were up for the idea so it'll come out as an album sometime towards the end of this year. There's no date set yet, I expect Imperia's album will probably be released first somewhere in fall and then the piano album a couple of months later. As I think of it, there is also a really beautiful version of Imperia's song 'Let Down' on that album."
Joshua: "Being involved in music for so long, is there anything you learned that you think people don’t understand about what it takes to be a musician?"
Helena: "I think people know very little about how much work and effort goes into it, people only hear the result but know very little about the process and the way that leads there. On the other hand, I'm not sure they need to know, at the end of the day, if the music gets to people that resonate with it and get something out of it in their lives one way or another, then that's good enough for me I suppose. But I do believe most people highly underestimate what it requires in terms of time and effort to create an album before they can put it in their player and listen to the music, but also how much you give of yourself emotionally and how many tears are shed sometimes in that process."
Joshua: "What do you think about the way music affects people’s lives, maybe even changing them?"
Helena: "There are thousands of different ways how people can deal with music or how they perceive music. For some, it may just be a pleasant soundbed in the background that calms them down or relaxes them, for others, it may have a deep impact in their lives, even come with sort of a revelation experience when suddenly bumping into that one special song that feels like it was made for you.
So there is no general answer to this question, but for sure music has deeply affected the lives of many, it can even have kind of a therapeutic effect. Already, the ancient Greeks had this idea of 'Katharsis' and concluded that art is a form of healing the soul."
Joshua: "So outside of the business aspect in music, how has it affected you personally?”
Helena: "I'm not even sure I have an answer to that question. Music is and always has been a natural part of me, an essential element of who I am. This doesn't have to do anything with business at all even, I'll sing and make music for as long as I live because it is simply who I am."
Joshua: "How would you finish this sentence; 'music is…?"
Helena: "...my passion."
Joshua: "Is there anything you would like to say to our readers, maybe even some life advice?"
Helena: "Always be honest and true to yourself and others. The world often seems to have become a very hard and heartless place where everybody just cares for themselves. But still, I believe that the actual core of us as human beings is to be kind and compassionate, and protective towards children or whoever else is weak and cannot help themselves.
After being exposed by the murder attempt one time by the people involved in my daughter's child prostitution and trafficking case, and sent to the hospital here in Germany with acute toxicity due to being given poisoned food and drink by them, I hope they won't manage to murder me, I still have so many hopes and dreams I haven't still yet fulfilled. There are many more albums to come and I'm just halfway through my life. But I'm already prepared that it might cost me my life trying to help my daughter out of it and bring her back home to where she belongs, that risk, my mother love is strong and courageous enough to take it...💕"
ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS FROM HELENA:
Helena: "The first is a document from a special psychologist at Sorlandet Hospital in Kristiansand from January 2019 that testifies my perfect mental health and takes away all false diagnoses that were put upon me, to cover up their deeds and that I told the truth.
The other is a document from the regular doctor I have had for many years, who is saying the same, as well he adds that my physical health is very well. So I hope that whatever false rumors that are out there about me having been psychologically ill will be buried forever and always now, and that people understand that this was created by people involved in her case and that it was also done for political reasons, to cover up the crime and to discredit me. I have been telling the truth the whole
time."
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