As the second part of the opening nights experiment of mixing contemporary bands and classical orchestras, Oh Land steps on the stage wearing a loose dress and a shiny little house on her head (!!!).


Oh Land consists of the young singer and electronica artist Nanna Øland Fabricius, and she had brought her (very talented) drummer, bassist and two choir girls, along with Lyngby-Tårbæk Symphonic Orchestra and her father, Bendt Fabricius, who had arranged all the songs. Contrary to the other band on the opening night, Ave, Oh Land had decided to basically turn her scratchy electronica into live music using her own liveband and the orchestra. Being a very talented singer, she opened with a couple of slow songs.


Her songs translated to the orchestral form very well, but none the less seemed boring, but that changed with the introduction of more up tempo songs, allowing especially the drummer to excell and not just take part.


About halfway into the set Oh Land introduced Claus Hempler to join her in Frostbite, a song which she did as a duet with herself (distorting her voice to a mans voice) but here using its full potential in a beautiful duet with Oh Land's light voice and Claus Hempler's crooning. A duet that rightfully got a lot of applause.


As an encore she  introduced her contribution to the BandBase based projeck Mix To Verdner (Mix Two Worlds), performing her new track Burn Bridge Burn, based on Ravel's Left Hand Concert from 1930, an interesting meet between the modern and the classic, but at the same time imo trying a little too hard to be new and inventive along with staying true to the classic but ending up being a little too much like the rest. But Oh Land's electronic scapes are definitely worth visiting.

Posted In Festivals, Jun 01 2009. Words - Cecilie