The Portastylistic: pop*eye...Laurel Music - This Night and the Next (2009)

Clear and Sweet,

worked wonderfully with the

hazy dream pop sound...

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Laurel Music - This Night and the Next (2009)

Malin Dahlberg's striking singing voice -- clear and sweet, with a curiously accented blend of polish and twang -- worked wonderfully with the hazy dream pop sound of Douglas Heart, but it's an even more satisfying fit for Tobias Isaksson's rootsy, sentimental songwriting. That exquisite combination is the underlying source of Laurel Music's considerable charm, as manifested on the delicate, understated, and all-too-brief This Night and the Next. Split roughly evenly between sparse, tender ballads and more upbeat, shuffling country-pop numbers ("No One Wants Forever" appears once in each style), the whole album radiates warmth and light-hearted intimacy. The band's cited influences skew towards folk and indie pop -- the gentle New York outfit Ida is perhaps the most resonant point of reference -- but there's an obvious country presence here as well, overt but not overstated, what with the Isaksson's rhythmic fingerpicking, judicious use of harmonica and pedal steel, and that elusive twinge in Dahlberg's voice. It's an appealing, instantly familiar sound that has as much to do with 1960s Bakersfield as it does with 2000s Gothenburg, and in Laurel Music's hands it feels quietly, effortlessly timeless.

more on...laurel music space

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All about
laurel music

Tobias Isaksson had been writing songs for ten years and for a few years his singer/songwriter project had been figuring in magazines such as Sound Affects and Sonic. But it was when Labrador presented him with Douglas Heart’s super vocalist Malin Dahlberg late in 2001 that his ship finally came in.

She liked his sense for melodies and they were asked to record some songs for »The Sound Of Young Sweden, vol. 3«. Once their correspondence started a close relationship was rapidly developed and soon Laurel Music was a dynamic duo. The combination of his timeless qualities as a songwriter akin to Neil Young, Morrissey/Marr and Tim Hardin and her ethereal vocals inspired by soft emo pop like Geoff Farina, The Secret Stars and Ida made their musical collaboration quite rare.

At first, when their rehearsal sessions took place in his living room, they often ended up giggling and listening to too many records. But as they entered the studio to record their debut album, they realised they needed a full band to complete the sound. Top drummer Max Sjöholm (Douglas Heart, Afraid Of Stairs) joined them as a permanent member and Tobias played just about every instrument he could get hold of. Finally some friends assisted with whatever the three weren’t able to do.

To this day, the permanent members remain Tobias, Malin and Max, but on stage Laurel Music is a musical collective that can appear as anything from a duo to a sextet. Expect a soft, melancholic masterpiece and some heartwarming live shows in the future!