Big Sounds, Big Songs
When in London recently, lifeiscarbon® came across yet another up and coming new band from Scandinavia. Lorraine, from Norway were in the last stages of an extensive UK tour having previously been the main support act to the Pet Shop Boys.
Lorraine’s latest release is Heaven, a cover of the Psychedelic Furs’ classic hit from 1984. The limited edition EP follows their top 30 debut single I Feel It (mp3 below) which earned the band much critical acclaim and saw them being widely tipped as a band to watch for the future. The Heaven EP also includes new tracks When I Return To The World, Confetti and a demo version of live favorite Saved.
Lorraine are Ole Gundersen (vocals), Anders Winsents (guitar), Paal Myran-Haaland (keyboards, programming) and a little electrical gadget (drums). They formed in Bergen, Norway and spent their formative years rehearsing in a disused warehouse on the town’s outskirts (see the band’s own explanation below). Whilst making a gesture to the past with influences from Depeche Mode, New Order, The Smiths and Pet Shop Boys, Lorraine have created an exciting and original new sound.
Take a listen to Lorraine's debut single, I Feel It:
We rather liked the following history of Lorraine, taken from band's website:
After a brief period knocking about with friends in a Prodigy-influenced electro metal outfit, Anders and Ole set their sights elsewhere and, on their way back from a jam session in a local pizza parlour, chanced upon Paal. He was at a bus stop, drunk and shouting. It was not long before he became Lorraine's third member, his (oddly immaculate) bedroom doubling as the band’s first recording studio.
In the summer of 2000 the band, now in their late teens, decided not to go back to school. Paal's bedroom was traded for a work space, 45 minutes outside Bergen, in a decaying factory building. The units surrounding Lorraine's studio were filled with either crackheads or car mechanics. The heating didn’t work. It's cold anyway in Norway, but in this ice-pocket it was often so cold that floppy discs would freeze in the band's sampler.
Then, one day, everything clicked. "Our songs mix reality and unreality," Paal explains. Many of Lorraine's songs are based on dreams; Ole believes that only in dreams are we completely honest and unfettered by often unfairly imposed moral and social codes. "It's about articulating the thoughts in your head," Ole adds. "Thoughts that wouldn’t come out in conversation. Hopes and dreams, a dark positivity. I don't know if our songs are happy or sad – we can be quite melancholic." He thinks for a little while. "There is happiness, but it might only be temporary."
"We've had some kind of trip into another world making this album," Paal smiles. "We're all about big atmosphere, big sounds, big songs. We always wanted everything to be very big."
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Posted by: Cassandra Mann | 13/06/2007 at 16:01