Lowood

Lowood's yet another talented duo from Scandinivia. I sometimes wonder if music is in people's genes over there. Why else are there so many great musicians from Scandinavia? (click to see all featured artitsts from scandinavia on LMLI) Lowood also has the "unique" scandinavian sounding songs, that you would never find in the Netherlands (for example). Give it a listen!
Therese Johansson, the main figure and songwriter in Lowood, stems from the pensive but uneventful rural parts of middle Sweden, something which spawned both the creativity and yearning that defines her and musical partner Kicki Halmos’ debut album. ‘Close To Violence’ tells of the leaving and of the longing that is as much connected with Smalltown, Sweden as the tribulation of complex affection. ‘Close To Violence’ is a cathartic pop album, a collection of songs which contrasts perfect musical harmony and minor key melodies with stories of imperfect relations. The songs on ‘Close To Violence’ resemble fragments that tell of love’s hope and failure, but are ultimately the chapter that closes the book on this part of her life. The fragility pierces, deep and forthright, and is sometimes so naked that it becomes almost overbearing. But Lowood don’t carry a message of resignation – there is no weakness here. Instead, the music and words convey hope and willpower between the lines. Lowood’s soundscapes are sometimes desolate and sparce, sometimes as impalpable and intangible as air, but occasionally burst with the force of conviction that resembles the electric legacy of pop’s eternals. ‘Close To Violence’ is obviously a work by lovers of music of intense emotional charge. But Lowood’s musical language is in the true sense of the word their own. Therese Johanssons personal songwriting, sense of melody and unparalleled voice appears to have been made for the sort of introspective pop music and expression that has become a necessity in her life. Therese and Kicki effortlessly complete each other, and with Therese’s crisp guitar adorned by Kicki’s lush keyboard melodies, this album is a masterwork of ethereal but jagged beauty.

@ Stockholm, Sweden
♫ Indie, Alternative, Pop
♥ Crash (mp3)
♥ Close to Violence (mp3)
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