Honeywolf is a young Swedish trio led by singer-songwriter-guitarist Lili Holényi and featuring pianist Milton Öhrström and bassist Mauritz Agnas. The debut album of this promising trio was produced by acclaimed vocalist-composer Lina Nyberg and released on her boutique label Lilalo.

Lili Holényi’s crystal clear and expressive voice and her innocent, emotional delivery are at the center of Honeywolf songs. Öhrström and Agnas embrace her singing in a reserved, emphatic interplay, attentive to any nuance in her excited, charming delivery, and all three offer a refreshing mix of jazz, art pop and subtle improvisations. Öhrström and Agnas rich musicality is best captured on the playful, chamber introduction to the song «WTF» or the collaborative, wordless improvisation «I’m Afraid, I’m Not Afraid of the Wolf». The addition of violinists Victoria Stjerna and Felicia Ivarsson on «Hold On» solidifies the chamber jazz veins of Honeywolf.

The most impressive section of songs of «Dreamer» are Holényi’s adaptations of poetic texts, all stress her versatile, highly personal language. She arranged Swedish poet-novelist Karin Boye poem «Havet» as a folk ballad, American poet Robert Creely’s «All the Way» suggests her gift to make the poem her own, identifying with the main character. She delivers Hungarian poet Ady Endre’s «Nem Adom Vissza» as a mysterious incantation.

Eyal Hareuveni

Lili Holényi (v, g), Milton Öhrström (p), Mauritz Agnas (b), Victoria Stjerna (vio), Felicia Ivarsson (vio)