duggup

Artist: Oh Laura
Website: www.myspace.com/laurasweden or www.ohlaura.net/
Track Name: Killer on the Road
Playback: mp3
Download?: No – but if you sign up to their mailing list you do get a free download of a strings only version of “Lucky Tonight” (It’s not on the album).

Pick a track, any track and you will melt into your chair seduced by the smoky voice of Frida Öhrn. If that’s not enough, then there is the band. Joakim Olovsson and Jörgen Kjellgren on guitars (acoustic and electric), Rikard Lidhamn on bass and Magnus Olsson on drums who admirably support the vocals with great songs, classy arrangements and lovely understated grooves.

They’re from Stockholm in Sweden and once you hear them you will know that their popularity there is not an accident, neither is their success in the download marketplace. Oh Laura has a laid back feel reminiscent of Shania Twain meets Chris Issacs – smooth and warm like a really good not too peaty single malt.

The following is a quote from their bio.

“We’re pretty sure the original idea of forming Oh Laura came from Joakim. It all started out as a songwriting project,” says guitarist, Jörgen Kjellgren. “Joakim and I had written a number of songs together when Joakim suggested starting a band with this amazing singer he’d met.

Enter Frida Öhrn; with a voice part serene Scandinavian beauty, part evening sunshine, part endless nights, filter-less cigarettes and whiskey. “We started writing and recording with Frida and immediately felt we were onto something really special.” Not long thereafter, Rikard and Magnus joined to complete the setup on bass and drums respectively.

Watch a live version of their single Release Me written by Erik Althoff who I think plays piano on the album release of this song. Frida plays a mouth harp solo on this too. I find it hard to choose an outright favourite from this album but try Killer on the Road, which is one of the tracks offered on MySpace. Oh Laura’s website has samples of all the tracks from the debut album “A song inside my head, a demon in my bed”

jools is a graphic designer who used to front a band on vocals and bass. All evidence of which have mercifully been obliterated or otherwise lost.
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