Translated from Swedish via Google Translate. To read the article, click here. 

It's in song number three, All That We Are, that it burns to seriously (and as Rona peaks). With strange power and emotion, Queen Esther gives America's black population a hopeful soundtrack accompanied only by Jeff McLaughlin's Hendrix-styling electric guitar and Hilliard Green's sensitive stand bass. The song was written to an event in Chicago for the Barack Obama Foundation and was already featured on the previous album, Guild the black the lily, but it is in this stripped-down version that it becomes clear what a soulful singer Queen Esther is.  

Rona was written according to the artist herself “in Harlem and recorded in Gowanus during the darkest days of the pandemic, when the world was in solitary consolation – and we were together in our solitude” and consist of five self-written songs, two covers (including a jazzy version of Bohemian rhapsody) and a voice memo (!). It's a pretty sprawling collection that includes both ukulele-driven songs and swollen strings. If Guild the black lily was a more fully cast album, Rona rather acts as a collection of impacts in which Queen Esther approaches events during the pandemic from different angles.  

The common denominator is inspired lines of lyrics and Queen Esther's musty voice dripping with soul and jazz. And a refreshing authenticity that bears witness to an artist who chooses to go her own way and is a welcome feature under the broad Americana umbrella. Phenomenal!