INTERVIEW: Oh Land

By Epic Records

Oh Land is 24-year old Copenhagen native Nanna Øland Fabricius. She made waves over in Europe before she ever won over hearts here in America. With a background in ballet and classical music, Oh Land brings a lot to the table, infusing her brand of pop with lively orchestration, an air of classical, and an infectious sense of adventure. She works not according to the rigidity of song structure but instead to the variety of sounds that characterize and inspire her songs. Under the veil of pop charms, Oh Land crafts sonic playgrounds that are hard not to have fun in. With songs like "Son of a Gun" and "Perfection," it sounds as though this up-and-coming artist is bound for a great career that's been constructed on a solid foundation. A performance at SXSW in 2009 helped lead to a record deal with Epic Records who will be releasing an introductory EP on October 19th and Oh Land's U.S. debut early next year.

I had a chance to chat with Oh Land just a few days after she had wrapped up a short U.S. tour. We chatted about growing up with classical music, moving to New York, interior decorating with music, The Beatles, and much more.

Interview by Quinn S.


Mixtape Muse: What was your first experience with music?

Oh Land: That must have been inside of my mom [laughs], because she was an opera singer and she was singing and performing the whole time she was pregnant. As soon as I was born I was brought to the theatre for rehearsals and was pretty much babysat by the dressers at the theatre. So, I’ve really grown up around music.

MM: When you were growing up did you want to be a musician, or did you have another career in mind?

OL: Well, I think like many children I didn’t want to be like my parents; and since my mom was an opera singer and my dad was an organist and composer, I just wanted to explore something else. Also, they were musicians in a classical way, and I was too wild and had too much energy to be able to stand still and play the flute for eight hours. That whole world just didn’t really appeal to me at that time because I had all that energy. So, my mom sent me to a dance school so she could tame me a little bit. Then, I got into the Royal Ballet School in Denmark. I thought I was going to be a dancer and I trained really seriously for 10 years. I moved to Stockholm and danced there. So, when I was 18 and I got a back injury and suddenly couldn’t dance any longer, it was quite a surprise for me to find out that I actually had a musical talent and that it had always been such a big part of why I was dancing. I pretty much found out that the whole reason I was dancing was to express music.

MM: You were saying that you didn’t really want go into classical music, but I find that your music does kind of have a sort of classical influence in it. So do you think that at a subconscious level your parents’ influence naturally rubbed off on your own music?

OL: Yeah, absolutely, because it was basically the only music I listened to until I was a young teenager, so it definitely left its traces. And also, I didn’t just listen to classical music because it was in the house, I also really enjoyed it and was dancing to it. I felt like I was inside of it; I was really tied into classical music. It’s definitely something I have as a big reference in my music. I’m very attracted to the free form of classical; the music kind of lives its own life and takes you on a journey, where there’s no “chorus-verse-chorus.” It has a much more organic life, and that way of playing is very appealing to me.

MM: So would you say that when you go about crafting your music you’re trying to create a journey, rather than just a song?

OL: I do try to create a song in a mold, like in a more modern tradition, but dynamically and phrasing-wise I definitely get inspired by how music evolves from very silent to suddenly big and bombastic. It’s very important to me that all my tracks have a dynamic live, with things that you would not expect to suddenly appear in the song. It can be a sound or just a little part or something. Definitely with intros and endings I feel I can really explore that.

MM: What made you decide to work under the name Oh Land? One might think it’s some sweet, obscure indie band or something.

OL: [Laughs] It’s actually my middle name. For me, when I make music I dive into my own little world and I explore what it looks like in there. I guess for me, songwriting is very much about stepping into a room. I envision a room, and if there’s nothing in it, if there’s no furniture, I won’t feel at home. But if I start putting little things in the room, then I can start to feel at home and start exploring the room – and that’s very much what production is for me. I start to make little sounds that suddenly will make me explore things in the music, and then I can start writing the melodies and the lyrics.

MM: So you’re a musical interior decorator, so to speak?

OL: Yeah [laughs], you could say that. But that’s why it made sense to me to use Oh Land, because it’s like a land of surprises.

MM: Definitely. You’re originally from Copenhagen, but you moved to New York. I was wondering, was that purely for artistic purposes to pursue your music career or did something else bring you to New York?

OL: I think I’ve always wanted to move to New York ever since I was very small. I think I’ve just had this big romantic American dream, as many people do [laughs]. I just feel like New York is one of those places where the whole world comes together, and I feel that it’s very inspiring for me to be in a place like that.

MM: And how long ago did you come to the States?

OL: I moved and got my own place in January.

MM: Oh, wow. How has the transition to American culture been? Is it much different than back home?

OL: I keep getting really fascinated and surprised every day about things I explore, about society, culture, behavior, and stuff. Every day I get fascinated by little things that’re different, because if you just look at the surface, it’s pretty much all the Western culture and it’s all part of something similar. But when you live here for a while you discover little details that are really different and quite fascinating. Right now I’m really fascinated with diners; I just love the aesthetic. I really like art deco, too.

MM: I would imagine that these things kind of inspire you to write, too. Has any of this stuff filtered into the writing process for you – finding what’s underneath the surface of the things you’re observing here?

OL: Yeah, definitely! I definitely feel like New York has inspired me for many songs. For instance, I have a song called “White Night” and there’s a part that says, “There’s no silence/I will keep following the sirens.” That part is definitely about the whole energy that is in New York. All the sirens from the ambulances and police cars almost have a musical impact on me. It’s almost like a call to me; it’s something very inspiring when you just hear it all the time, and at some point there’s so much noise that you can’t really differentiate between things.

MM: A natural soundtrack of life.

OL: Yeah.

MM: Going off of that, from the songs I have heard, you obviously have a very strong pop sensibility, but you seem to offset it with layered vocals and varied instrumentation. I read that you cite Bjork as an influence. Who else influences you?

OL: Except for classical music, which is obviously my biggest influence – composers like Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff and all the Russian ballet composers – very modern stuff has influenced me a lot, as well, like Laurie Anderson and Kraftwerk. Right now, I’m quite inspired by the whole new folk wave. For me, it’s really amazing to get that back a little bit, because it’s just so pure and honest and just feels so warm.

MM: Right, right. It’s all about storytelling, too.

OL: Yeah, exactly. And that’s really inspiring for me, to dive into that a little bit. The Beatles have also been a huge inspiration for me.

MM: Any particular Beatles’ album, or just The Beatles in general?

OL: The Beatles in general, but probably Abbey Road, I would say. With their vocal harmonies…you just can’t deny that they have made so many good songs, and I love that it’s so simple. Like, they can write a song that’s very, very much pop but is still kind of edgy – and it’s just so good. [laughs]

MM: Yeah, absolutely. In a few short minutes they pack so much into a song that by the time it’s over you think, “Wow, that was just two to three minutes?”

OL: Yeah. I especially love some of the more instrumental tracks, like “I Am the Walrus” and “I Want You” that show a little more aggression and temperament. I think those are amazing. I also like how they were kind of the first pop musicians to experiment with orchestration and more classical instruments.

MM: Obviously that influence is very present in your own music. Speaking of your music, I read that you’re releasing an EP and then your U.S. debut album is coming out next year. Can you tell me anything about those and will they share any songs with your debut Fauna?

OL: No, it will be all new material that I’ve been working on the past year. The EP will be out the 19th of October, and that will have four songs including “Son of a Gun,” “Wolf & I,” and “White Night.” The EP is kind of zooming in on the album because all the songs on it will also be on the album. So, they’re like the four walls in the house, and then there are all the other songs inside there, to go back to the interior decorating.

MM & OL: [Laugh]

OL: The album is inspired by life, people, and experiences in general. But one thing that has really inspired me is just human behavior. I’ve tried to make some confessions and also ask some questions, because I feel like there are so many dilemmas in life. For instance, I have one song called “Human” and there’s a line in it that goes, “I don’t like you human, you remind me of the things I hate in me/I don’t like you human, because you show me how imperfect I can be.” That song is very much about situations like what happened in the Gulf Coast, where you just think, “Oh my God, I hate humans!” But at the same time, you love your life and understand that we can all make huge mistakes. So, I feel like the new album is very much inspired by humans, whereas Fauna was more about nature and animal life.

MM: And the material on your U.S. debut, how old is that? Has a lot of it been written since you’ve been here in the U.S.?

OL: That’s only been written in America, and also some was written in London. I worked with producers in London and America.

MM: What producers have you been working with?

OL: I was working with Dan Carey, who’s currently producing the new Kills album. He’s also produced Franz Ferdinand, Hot Chip, and La Roux. He’s done a lot of, mainly, electronic stuff, but also some folky stuff like Sia. I’ve also been working with Dave McCracken, who’s also British, but I’ve been working with him over here [in the U.S.]. He’s produced Ian Brown and Depeche Mode.

MM: Great stuff.

OL: Yeah. It’s been a dream working with such talented people.

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My thanks to Oh Land and Myles Grosovsky.

Oh Land's new EP will be out October 19th. Her debut U.S. LP will be out early next year.

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