Oh Land (album)

Oh Land
Studio album by Oh Land
Released 14 March 2011 (2011-03-14)
Recorded 2009–10; Mr. Dan's Streathem
(United Kingdom)
Premier Recording Studios
(New York City, United States)
Secret Frequency Studio
(Los Angeles, United States)
Genre Synthpop, dance-pop, alternative dance, experimental
Length 39:53
Label Fake Diamond, A:larm
Producer Dan Carey, Dave McCracken, Lester Mendez
Oh Land chronology
Fauna
(2008)		 Oh Land
(2011)
Singles from Oh Land
  1. "Sun of a Gun"
    Released: 4 October 2010 (2010-10-04)
  2. "Rainbow"
    Released: May 2011
  3. "White Nights"
    Released: 22 May 2011 (2011-05-22)
  4. "Speak Out Now"
    Released: 28 November 2011 (2011-11-28)

Oh Land is the second studio album by Danish recording artist Oh Land. It was released in Denmark on 14 March 2011 by Fake Diamond Records and in the United States on 15 March by Epic Records. An EP with the same name was released in advance on 19 October 2010, containing four tracks from the full-length album.[1] "Sun of a Gun" was released as the album's first international single.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 62/100[2]
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 3.5/5 stars[3]
BBC Music mixed[4]
Berlingske 5/6 stars[5]
Billboard positive[6]
Drowned in Sound 5/10[7]
Ekstra Bladet 5/6 stars[8]
Gaffa 5/6 stars[9]
Politiken 4/6 stars[10]
Slant Magazine 3.5/5 stars[11]
Spin 7/10[12]

Oh Land received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 62, based on 7 reviews.[2] Barry Walters of Spin wrote that "[t]his stunning Dane's synths-plus-strings slant on singer-songwriter lovesickness offers refinement over innovation, yet Nanna Øland Fabricius beguiles with a gently insistent presence."[12] Kerri Mason of Billboard opined that Oh Land "might have made the year's first great left-field pop album", praising the songs as "endlessly catchy" and concluding that "the tilting scales of light and dark give the collection a definite creep factor and a clever complexity."[6]Allmusic's Andrew Leahey described the album as an "'anything goes' mix of club, dance, and nocturnal electro-pop", adding that Oh Land "doesn't rewrite the rule book as much as join the ranks of La Roux, Little Boots, and Janelle Monáe. But that doesn't keep her debut album from churning out a number of intelligent club anthems".[3]

In a mixed review, Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani expressed that Oh Land's "cinematic arrangements bring Janelle Monáe's ambitious approach to pop music to mind, but tracks like 'Wolf & I' and 'Lean' draw a bit too heavily from the trip-hop playbook [...] and, however well-excecuted they may be, end up sounding derivative."[11] Similarly, Fraser McAlpine of BBC Music felt that "there's a bit of an identity void at the heart of the thing, a lack of personality. It might just be that Oh Land is more skilled at getting songs to sound current than she is at expressing herself."[4]Drowned in Sound's John Calvert called the album "hip, diverse and always vibrant", but also branded it "pretty forgettable". Calvert pointed out the production work of Dave McCracken and Dan Carey, noting the album "inhabits a tepid middle ground between the two extremes—offering neither gilded Scandi chart-pop (Robyn, Annie) or the artistic mettle of Scandi indie bands, most of whom are able to turn out sublime pop anyway."[7]

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Track listing

No. Title Writer(s) Producer Length
1. "Perfection"   Nanna Øland Fabricius, Dan Carey Carey 4:59
2. "Break the Chain"   Fabricius, Dave McCracken McCracken 3:17
3. "Sun of a Gun"   Fabricius, Jimmy Harry McCracken 3:25
4. "Voodoo"   Fabricius, Carey Carey 2:51
5. "Lean"   Fabricius, Carey Carey 3:28
6. "Wolf & I"   Fabricius, Owen Beverly Carey 4:37
7. "Human"   Fabricius, E. Kidd Bogart Carey 4:08
8. "White Nights"   Fabricius, McCracken McCracken 3:45
9. "Helicopter"   Fabricius, Lester Mendez Mendez 3:31
10. "We Turn It Up"   Fabricius, McCracken, Brian Fallon McCracken 2:31
11. "Rainbow"   Fabricius, McCracken McCracken 3:21
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Personnel

Credits for Oh Land adapted from liner notes.[15]

  • Oh Land – vocals, choir, choir arrangement, vocal arrangement (all tracks); string arrangements (1, 5); instrumentation (2–8, 10, 11)
  • Jonathan Adelman – booking
  • Adam Ayan – mastering (4)
  • Ben Baptie – mixing assistant (4)
  • Angus Baskerville – booking
  • Charlie Bisharat – violin (9)
  • Dan Carey – engineer, producer (1, 4–7); mixing (1, 5, 6); string arrangements (1, 5); instrumentation (4–7)
  • Marty Diamond – booking
  • Isabella Dunn – cello (1, 5, 7)
  • Jason Edwards – booking
  • Tom Elmhirst – mixing (4)
  • Robbie Fimmano – photography
  • Serban Ghenea – mixing (3, 7, 8, 10)
  • John Hanes – mixing assistant (3, 7, 8, 10)
  • Mikkel Hess – drum performance (2, 3, 8, 10, 11)
  • Todd Interland – management
  • Eske Kath – artwork
  • Jesper Kemp – booking
  • Farra Mathews – A&R, management
  • Dave McCracken – instrumentation, producer (2, 3, 8, 10, 11)
  • Lester Mendez – engineer, keyboards, piano, producer, programming, string arrangements (9)
  • NR2154 – art direction, design
  • Joel Numa – engineer (9)
  • John O'Mahony – mixing (2, 9, 11)
  • Stella Page – violin (1, 5, 7)
  • Antonia Pagulatos – violin (1, 5, 7)
  • Mike Pagulatos – viola (1, 5, 7)
  • Sophie Rivlin – cello (7)
  • Andros Rodriguez – engineer (2, 3, 8, 10, 11)
  • Alexis Smith – engineer (1, 4–7); mixing assistant (1, 5, 6)
  • Cameron Stone – cello (9)
  • Max de Wardener – string arrangements and conducting (7)
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Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2011) Peak
position
Danish Albums Chart[16] 5
US Billboard 200[17] 184
US Alternative Albums[18] 24
US Heatseekers Albums[19] 5
US Rock Albums[20] 43

Year-end charts

Chart (2011) Position
Danish Albums Chart[21] 31
Chart (2012) Position
Danish Albums Chart[22] 50
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Certifications

Region Certification
Denmark Platinum[23]
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Release history

Region Date Label Format(s) Edition
Denmark 14 March 2011[24] Fake Diamond Records, A:larm Music CD, digital download Standard
United States 15 March 2011[25] Epic Records
Canada 24 May 2011[26] Sony Music
France 6 June 2011[27]
Poland 13 June 2011[28]
Germany 5 August 2011[29]
Italy 25 October 2011[30]
United Kingdom 21 November 2011[31] RCA Records
Denmark 5 December 2011[14] Fake Diamond Records, A:larm Music Digital download Deluxe
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References

  1. ^ "Oh Land – Oh Land EP". Fake Diamond Records. Retrieved 24 September 2011. 
  2. ^ a b "Oh Land – Oh Land". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 13 April 2012. 
  3. ^ a b Leahey, Andrew. "Oh Land – Oh Land". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 13 April 2012. 
  4. ^ a b McAlpine, Fraser (14 November 2011). "Review of Oh Land – Oh Land". BBC Music. Retrieved 13 April 2012. 
  5. ^ Hansen, Thomas Søie (12 March 2011). "Hvilken vellyd!". Berlingske (in Danish). Berlingske Media. Retrieved 13 April 2012. 
  6. ^ a b Mason, Kerri (25 March 2011). "Oh Land, "Oh Land"". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 13 April 2012. 
  7. ^ a b Calvert, John (9 December 2011). "Oh Land – Oh Land". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 13 April 2012. 
  8. ^ Queitsch, Henrik (13 March 2011). "Stjernerne kalder". Ekstra Bladet (in Danish). JP/Politikens Hus. Retrieved 13 April 2012. 
  9. ^ Gonzalez, Michael Jose (14 March 2011). "Oh Land: Oh Land". Gaffa (in Danish). Retrieved 13 April 2012. 
  10. ^ Skotte, Kim (12 March 2011). "Dansk musikkomet har ingen fejlskud i pop-bøssen". Politiken (in Danish). JP/Politikens Hus. Retrieved 13 April 2012. 
  11. ^ a b Cinquemani, Sal (8 March 2011). "Oh Land: Oh Land". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 13 April 2012. 
  12. ^ a b Walters, Barry (15 March 2011). "Oh Land, 'Oh Land' (Epic)". Spin. Buzz Media. Retrieved 13 April 2012. 
  13. ^ "Oh Land by Oh Land". iTunes Store US. Apple Inc. Retrieved 19 June 2011. 
  14. ^ a b "Oh Land (Deluxe Version) by Oh Land". iTunes Store Denmark. Apple Inc. Retrieved 24 March 2012. 
  15. ^ Oh Land (CD liner notes). Oh Land. Fake Diamond Records. 2011. FDRCD016.
  16. ^ "Oh Land – Oh Land". danishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 June 2011. 
  17. ^ "Oh Land – Chart history: Billboard 200". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 7 April 2013. 
  18. ^ "Oh Land – Chart history: Alternative Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 7 April 2013. 
  19. ^ "Heatseekers Albums : Apr 02, 2011". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 7 April 2013. 
  20. ^ "Oh Land – Chart history: Rock Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 7 April 2013. 
  21. ^ "Album Top-100 2011" (in Danish). Hitlisten.NU. IFPI Denmark. Archived from the original on 23 January 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2012. 
  22. ^ "Album Top-100 2012" (in Danish). Hitlisten.NU. IFPI Denmark. Archived from the original on 4 April 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2013. 
  23. ^ "Oh Land "Oh Land" (ALARM)" (in Danish). IFPI Denmark. 11 December 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2012. 
  24. ^ "Oh Land – Oh Land (album)". Fake Diamond Records. Retrieved 24 September 2011. 
  25. ^ "Oh Land: Oh Land". Amazon.com. Retrieved 24 September 2011. 
  26. ^ "OH LAND by OH LAND". HMV Canada. Retrieved 17 October 2011. 
  27. ^ "Oh Land : Oh Land" (in French). Fnac. Retrieved 13 April 2012. 
  28. ^ "Oh Land – Oh Land" (in Polish). Empik. Retrieved 17 October 2011. 
  29. ^ "Oh Land – Oh Land" (in German). Sony Music Entertainment Germany. Retrieved 24 September 2011. 
  30. ^ "Oh Land: Oh Land" (in Italian). Amazon.it. Retrieved 17 October 2011. 
  31. ^ "Oh Land: Oh Land". HMV. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 24 September 2011. 
Oh Land
Studio albums
  • Fauna (2008)
  • Oh Land (2011)
Singles
Other songs
Related articles
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Last modified on 7 April 2013, at 18:45