OH LAND

WORDS BY DANIELLE SIPPLE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY HILARY WALSH
STYLING BY BRITT BARDO @ MAGNET
MAKE UP BY MICHELLE MUNGCAL @ ATELIER MANAGEMENT
HAIR BY COLEEN CONWAY @ AIM
OUTFIT BY ELKIN

—

Danish-born song-writer, producer and performer Oh Land is metaphorically out of this world. Her musical styling is laced with ethereal qualities that are deeply rooted in the classical dance and musical training of her youth – her mother is an opera singer, her father an organist and she went to ballet school. “I think you can only rebel against something if you know it well.” And rebel she has, without forgetting where she’s been. After giving up on ballet after a major dance injury Oh Land suddenly had space in her life for music or as she puts it, “Music found me.”

Movement remains a large part of her performance as well as an integral component of the overall sound of her music. Many of her songs from her discography have a pumping percussion element to them “I do miss using my body for expression,” she admits, “which is why I like being physical on stage. And drums are the most physical instrument – I want [the music] to feel physical.” And the dream stage for such a physical expression? “I think the Taj Mahal, with a lot of elephants wearing ear plugs and the Kirov Ballet dancing with me.”

Despite her roots she admits that most of her career and success as a musician has been since she left Denmark – she now lives in New York. “I started my music career with [Danish label] Fake Diamond Records, but I moved soon after and continued making music in many places, so I just consider myself a musician from Oh Land.” Her artistic inspiration is the year 2050, even though she confides that she has no specific idea around that futuristic reality. “I’m definitely inspired by forward movement, innovation, things industrial and mechanic.”

Moving forward in mind, her latest album is an American self-titled release that came out earlier this year, a full three years after her first album Fauna and she’s learned a lot in the interim, especially working with heavy-hitting producers like Pharrell Williams, Dan Carey and Dave McCracken. “When I went in to this new chapter in my life I met a lot of new people,” she says. “This business has taught me a few lessons and I think that I have become less naive. Things that would have taken me two days to realize myself would take 20 minutes with them.”

With the new album loose in North America, Oh Land is about to take her live stage show on the road with Sia and Ximena Sarinana. “I’m excited to go on the road with Sia, because I think that I can learn so much from watching her perform.” And when she’s not touring, she’s back home in Brooklyn thriving in the big city. “When things are very hectic around me, I find it easier to rest, which is why New York City is probably a good place for me, although I may have a little bit more black in my wardrobe these days.”

†