Oh Land: New Creativity Found in Unfortunate Circumstance

By Michele Koury
Published: February 1st, 2011 | 12:40pm

Thanksgiving is approaching and so it is grey in New York City; we are in a loft with high ceilings and electro-pop singer Nanna Øland Fabricus, a.k.a. Oh Land, is telling me about a back injury she suffered at eighteen, while a stylist fiddles with her hair. She had big dreams of becoming a ballerina superstar; she’d moved from Copenhagen to Stockholm so that she could attend the Royal Ballet School, ready to give herself to dance. But then she was hurt and had no idea what to do.

Unable to dance, Fabricus explored other interests. “I tried a bunch of stuff. It was a bit like when you’re heartbroken and you’re out to find a new love and you’re looking for your ideal boyfriend. But then suddenly you find out you’re in love with your best friend. I kept leaning toward music.” This made sense, considering Fabricus' musical family ties. She is the daughter of an opera singer and a composer. She started writing and recording songs using Garage Band on her laptop and played the songs for friends, who urged her to put them up on Myspace. Soon after she debuted her demos on Myspace, she was signed by Danish indie label ArtPeople. Her furst album, Fauna, was released in 2008.

Fabricus knew that if she wanted to take her career as a musician further, she was going to have to do a tour. She picked up the phone and booked an American tour herself, and landed her a spot at SXSW in 2009, where she caught the interest of Epic Records. In early 2010 she picked up and moved to Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

“I knew I wanted to come to New York. It was the old European Dream, wanting to go across the ocean, see the Statue of Liberty,” she grins, proving that the too-cool attitude of the famously pretentious neighborhood hasn’t gotten to her head. “Williamsburg reminds me of Denmark, a little town with a big city mentality.”

Once settled in America, she did a brief Northeast Coast tour with Mates of State and recorded a self-titled album, set to be released in February, 2011. The collection of songs have the same confessional attitude as her earlier work, but with a slightly different feel. “My first album was more like a long poem. The beats are a little harder on this new album, and the tracks are more polished.”

The album contains new experiments with sound as well; On one track, unable to find the perfect snare sound on the computer, she recorded the actual sound of ripping Velcro. On another, she dumped out a jar of change to get the ideal clatter of background noise she was seeking. The evolving musical atmosphere has a cold, glittery feel.

Oh Land considers the songs soundtracks to her life, but songs like "Sun of A Gun," they also sound like they belong in a movie.

Performance is perhaps where Fabricus shines the most—she’s committed putting on a concert that is a little less about a traditional live music experience and little more about performance art. “When I listen to music myself, I attach it to certain smells or looks or memories,” she says, getting excited just thinking about it, her eyes wide.

Her goal is to make her concerts as rich and sensory of an experience as possible. Crazy lights blare. She dances with refinement and whenever she hits her synthesizer with a drumstick, the sound of the beat is wired to a projector that displays visuals. One of the most unique involves a the bouquet of balloons that are tethered to the stage. When she sings a song with a “choir” sound to it, the image of her face singing appears on the surface of the balloon, a small choir of mini-Oh Lands.

She smiles again, and it’s time to take her picture. “I just want to go out and play for as many people as possible. I want to write as many good songs as I can and play every corner.” How’s that for a dream recovery?