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Laa-kso fin. (lãksõ)
n. pl. val•ley = dal (swe)
1. ,Anglo-Finnish/Swedish band with much credence. Sublime musical, sometimes discordant, never disappointing. An elongated lowland between ranges of mountains, hills, or other uplands, often with a river or stream |
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Produced by Jari Haapalainen.
Recorded and mixed at
AGM studio by Christoffer Lundqvist.
Sleeve design by Markus Krunegård.
The band recently released their album "I Miss You, I'm Pregnant" in Sweden which features fellow Vikings and Glastonbury confirmed The Concretes: Rough Trade said: “More lovely indie folk pop from Adrian Recordings, 13-songs ranging from soft acoustic ballads to full on power pop with accordion and trumpets going bananas. Recommended”
Laakso are in the UK next week (w/c May 24) to support Bearsuit (May 25) who are celebrating the release of their new album on Fortuna Pop, to play Club Fandango with former Rialto members now giging with CoStar next Wednesday (26), and support Spearmint at Water Rats next Thursday and their own mates David & the Citizens next Friday(28) at the Barfly.
This summer Laakso are set to support Wilco, Franz Ferdinand and The Hives on their summer tour of Sweden.
The aforementioned album was produced by Jari Haapalienen [The Concretes, Bear Quartet, Ed Harcourt]. Jari got a Swedish Grammy nomination for the production on it.
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Short Biography
LAAKSO predominately hailing from one of the most northerly reaches of Sweden, (Tornedalen) and signed to the one of most southerly record labels are now based around the capitol Stockholm, from where they certainly have all bases covered geographically - and not least musically.
No surprise then that the band's debut, The Long Beach EP, caught the attentions of critics and fans the length and breadth of Sweden following March 2003 release.
The band has deservedly sculpted a name for themselves as a cracking act following the aforementioned debut EP issue, some demo tracks which have been doing the rounds online and also limited edition CDrs which the band initially put out are now exchanged between aficionados eager to lay claim to a LAAKSO rarity.
Yet, it was the Long Beach EP , released earlier this year and via jubilant performances in Uppsala, Linköping, Lund, Gothenburg and at Malmö Festival, Emmaboda Festival, Kiruna Festival, Pop Dakar festival, Club Accelerator - Stockholm to name a few shows which led critics to the speak with one admiring voice.
Meanwhile, armchair viewers may have caught LAAKSO when they featured on SVT's premier music show Musikbyrån, the first Swedish band of the autumn season.
In May, LAAKSO entered Christofer Lundqvist's AGM studio in Vollsjö for some lengthy days of production with fellow artic-circle born Jari Haapalainen [Bear Quartet, Fireside, Kristofer Aström-solo, & Moneybrother et al..] at the controls.
The resulting disc, I Miss You, I'm Pregnant also features a guest footprint by Maria from The Concretes and Heikki on the track Month Of Mist.
Thirteen astral tracks, twelve in English and one in Finnish - Loista Laakso is a nod to Singer Markus Krunegård's divided roots in Tornedalen, an area with three languages, Swedish, Finnish and Meiki.
The sound is imaginative. Think: Nick Drake raised in Finland and born into an American Joy Division - enchanting at one polar, broody at the other.
The influences are simple from Violent Femmes, Ultra Bra, Sonic Youth, to Tom Waits, Arto Tiesmaa, Emmylou Harris…the credence an exhaustive list to help you get some way to appreciating the wonder that is LAAKSO.
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