Artist.......: Lay Low
Album........: Flatey
Label........: n/a
Genre........: Folk
Catnr........: n/a
source.......: CDDA
rip.date.....: Mar-08-2010
str.date.....: 000-00-0000
quality......: VBR/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: n/a
track title time
01. By and by 04:06
02. Little by Little 03:07
03. Please Don't Hate Me 03:33
04. I Wish You 04:15
05. Last Time Around 03:55
06. Sorgin 05:09
07. Mojo Love 03:07
Runtime 27:12 min
Size 29,5 MB
Release Notes:
LAY LOW is the alter ego of singer-songwriter
Lovísa Elísabet Sigrúnardóttir, who was born in
London in 1982 to an Icelandic mother and Sri
Lankan father, with the family relocating to
Reykjavík when she was a small child. She took
piano lessons at a young age and started playing
bass and guitar in her teens, performing with
several local acts before joining the experimental
rock band Benny Crespo's Gang adding keyboards,
synthesizers
.and her voice
.to her musical armory.
LAY LOW evolved in early 2006, after Lovísa was
contacted by a local label showing an interest in a
raw demo she had placed on MySpace that combined
elements of blues, folk and country and twisted
them into a fascinating new shape. Just a few short
months after being discovered she had recorded and
released her debut album, Please Don't Hate Me,
which topped the Icelandic chart and became the
bestselling original album in the country that
year, getting nominated for four Icelandic Music
Awards (winning three) in the process.
Demonstrating a musical maturity beyond her years,
Please Don't Hate Me was an impressive debut,
with Lovísas intoxicating new take on classic
Americana sounds attracting much praise and her
authentic and compelling live performances standing
up well to the recorded versions of her songs.
Following the speedy success of her debut, Lovísa
refused to rest on her laurels, recording covers of
two well-known Icelandic songs for a local hit
movie (Brúðguminn, directed by Baltasar Kormákur)
and taking on the role of music director for the
Pulitzer Prize play How I Learned to Drive,
(written by Paula Vogel), for which she not only
wrote the music but also performed it on-stage to
sell out crowds and great reviews. The music from
the play was released in Iceland in early 2008 and
included five original LAY LOW tracks in Icelandic
plus eight Dolly Parton covers, all in a
distinctive LAY LOW style. The record was an
instant hit and Lovisa again found herself
nominated for a prize, this time for an Icelandic
Theatre Award. Despite several other musical
luminaries being nominated (including Nick Cave and
Warren Ellis), LAY LOW won the award.
Lovísa also began sewing the seeds of an
international career in 2007, playing shows in the
UK and the US and performing at several industry
conventions in mainland Europe. While in the US,
Lucinda Williams saw her play two shows in LA and
began talking up LAY LOW as one of the best new
artists she had seen in years.
The early part of 2008 saw LAY LOW begin planning
her much anticipated new album, visiting London to
meet up and play with producer Liam Watson and a
crack team of musicians at his famed Toe Rag
Studios. Things clicked immediately between Lovísa
and Liam and a full recording session was scheduled
for the summer. To prepare for the recordings
Lovísa spent some time in the Icelandic
countryside, first staying on the remote island of
Hrísey in the far north of the country and then
travelling to the extreme east to the tiny village
of Borgarfjörður Eystri.
Recorded and produced by Liam Watson (White
Stripes, Pete Molinari, Holly Golightly), Farewell
Good Night's Sleep is a superlative sophomore
album that reinvents the country music wheel for a
modern audience. Recorded between July and
September 2008, it features high calibre musicians
such as Carwyn Ellis, Ed Turner, Rupert Brown, Matt
Radford, Jason Wilson and BJ Cole. Liam Watson
himself comments that working with Lovísa was a
great experience. I really enjoyed working with a
girl of Lovísas age that enjoys good country
music, the kind that I like - sincere, melodic and
lush. Lovísa has a very special and unique voice
and is coming up with the kind of material I dont
hear from anyone else. Icelands top female country
artist will surely become a favourite the world
over.
When asked about influences for the new album,
Lovísa talks a lot about the honky tonk era from
19501960 as well as specific artists who have
influenced her - Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Ernest
Tubb, Kitty Wells, Lefty Frizzell, Hank Williams
Sr., Red Foley, Loretta Lynn, Hank Lochlin, Skeeter
Davis and The Carter Family. In general she listens
to a great deal of country, roots and old gospel,
together with a lot of new indie bands.
As for the album title, Lovísa states that "I was
really stressed making the album and felt pressured
since Please Don't Hate Me had been doing so
well. I didnt sleep much when I was working on it
and thats why I thought it was appropriate that I
should call it Farewell Good Night's Sleep, since
thats how it was."
The music team at iTunes in the US have already
picked up on the new album, tipping LAY LOW as one
of the best discoveries of 2008, while the opening
song on the record (the 6 minute country-burlesque
I Forget Its There) has been getting much
daytime airplay from the influential LA radio
station KCRW.
LAY LOW toured mainland Europe as the main support
for Emilíana Torrini on her two European tours in
2009. She has also been supporting Emilíana Torrini
on her shows in London, New York, San Francisco and
Los Angeles and will do so as well in Australia and
Japan in 2010. On her own LAY LOW has performed
this year in Finland, Denmark, Germany, Winnipeg,
Gimli, New York and Los Angeles and recently did a
live session at KCRWs Morning Becomes Eclectic
plus festival appearances at Glastonbury,
Slottsfjell, Into The Great Wide Open and End of
the Road.
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