“It's all about Frida's voice, really. It's why we started and it's why we keep going. And it's most likely the reason why you're here.” Says Jörgen Kjellgren, founding member, guitarist and co-songwriter of Oh Laura.
‘‘Oh Laura’’ started out as a song writing project between old university friends, Jocke and Jörgen - both Swedish born and raised, and both keen musicians and writers. Jocke is the harmonies and melodies man in the partnership, while Jörgen is the lyricist. It was when Jocke was taken to a concert by his sister, and he saw and heard Frida for the first time, that their project moved on. So impressed was Jocke by Frida’’s voice that he tracked her down and approached her to form a band with him and Jörgen. Not long thereafter, Frida’’s friends Rikard and Magnus joined to complete the setup on bass and drums respectively. And so Oh Laura was born.
The band started playing live, quickly building a loyal following and catching the attention of Swedish production duo, MixInc, who in turn introduced them to Stockholm based indie label Cosmos Records. Oh Laura then spent the summer of 2006 recording their debut album, ‘‘A Song Inside My Head, A Demon In My Bed’’ in Cosmos’’ in house studio.
When asked to describe the album, Jörgen says “the kind that works well late on a rainy night, listened to with whisky.”. Musically, ‘‘A Song Inside My Head, A Demon In My Bed’’, is influenced by both pop and country, drawing on artists/ bands as diverse as Richard Hawley through Elvis to Dolly Parton. Lyrically the album explores the universal theme of love, but not in a conventional or obvious way, but rather by poking at it from its underbelly. “It is a love story.”, says Frida, “But not a happy love story. Its something a little bit uncomfortable, something that doesn’’t stick together completely.”. It is exactly this ‘‘uncomfortableness’’, the jarring of dark and light, in this bittersweet collection of songs, that makes them so real, so beautiful, and so haunting, particularly when sung by that voice.
Please visit us at www.ohlaura.net for news, info and merchandise.
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