Words by Ed King / Pics courtesy of Rocket Records
On Tuesday 7th March, Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation perform at the Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath).
Doors open at 7:30pm, with tickets priced at £7:50 (adv) – as presented by This Is Tmrw. For direct gig info, including venue details and online sales, click here.
The ‘queen of stoner pop’ in their home country of Sweden, Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation come to Birmingham at the end of their eleven date UK tour. Although nobody really describes this band better than theselves, so ‘Alchemical Sky Gazing’.
Playing gigs from Brighton to Glasgow, Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation have been in the UK since the end of Feb – including a return to Liverpool, where the band were amongst the top bill for the city’s International Festival of Psychedelia last year. Not really relative to their Birmingham gig but citing this booking should divert the need for a load of garrulous comparisons. Alright, you can have one – Mazzy Star meets Swervedriver.
Relatively fresh faced Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation released their first LP, Horse Dance, in 2015 though the Stockholm based Gone Beyond Records, and Rocket Records – the UK based label home of Goat, Teeth of the Sea and Gnoomes. A brooding and driven eight track landscape, with subverted rock powering some ethereal yet commanding vocals, this uncompromising album was both a darker side step from their previous EPs and something to notice. A bit like Mazzy Star meets Swerve… ibid, your honour.
Self described as marking ‘out a territory in which beguiling repetition could sashay with sweet pop suss, melodic flourishes with experimental intensity,’ (a line I wish I had written) Horse Dance gained Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation a solid left of centre fan base and respectable industry interest. Roskilde followed, as did a string of dates across the UK supporting label mates, Goat.
Now back on the road with a new album, Mirage, Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation’s sophomore LP is similar but a step up from their visceral debut – bringing the same twisted metal intensity and spirit guide vocals, but with a touch more digital than analogue. So Mazzy Star meets Swervedriver, remixed by Underworld. Or to once again cherry pick from the band’s own biog: ‘…the seductive splendour of these ten songs make manifest a parallel world of disorientation and deliverance in which one would be a fool not to want to languish adrift.’ Lovely.
But one sense (or song) is seldom enough, so have a stop, look, listen to this double album track sandwich from Mirage.
‘In Madrid / Rainbow Lollipop’ / Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation
Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation perform at the Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath) on Tuesday 7th March, as presented This Is Tmrw. For direct gig info and online tickets sales, click here.
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For more on Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation, visit www.josefinohrn.squarespace.com
For more from the Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath), including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk
For more from This Is Tmrw, visit www.thisistmrw.co.uk