Laakso

Biography

New Laakso album called “Grateful Dead” out 22nd of April on Adrian Recordings!

Time is not linear, everything happens at the same time. At the same time that Adrian Recordings preparing the release of Laakso’s 5^th album we are sitting in a dorm in Uppsala 2002 getting a demo from a guy called Markus Krunegård. The demo was then released as Laakso debut EP “Long Beach” on Adrian Recordings. Laakso then became one of Swedens’s fines indie bands with a long row of hits 2003-2007. Then Markus went solo and became one of Sweden’s biggest solo artists as well as member of constellations like Serenades together with Adam of Shout Out Louds. Numerous hits, tours and rewards later he find himself together with his band mates in Laakso again. Back where it all started on Adrian Recordings.

The new album is produced by Jari Haapalainen, that also produced most of the early material. It will be called “Grateful Dead” and is released the 22^nd of April. First single from the album was the storming “Time of my Life”, second taster is the bittersweet “So Happy, So Sad”.

Markus Krunegård
David Nygård
Lars Skoglund
Mikael Fritz

Svenska:

Tiden är inte linjär, allt händer samtidigt. 2002 sitter Magnus på Adrian Recordings i ett studentrum i Uppsala på en sen efterfest. Han snackar med en kille som säger att han skriver låtar men inte kan bestämma sig för om han ska skriva på engelska eller finska. “Kör på finska”, säger han. Han får också en demo med 4 spår – 4 spår som snart släpps på Adrian Recordings som Laaksos debut-EP, “Long Beach”.

2016 är allting annorlunda och ingenting har förändrats. Adrian Recordings ska snart släppa Laaksos femte album. Albumet ska heta “Grateful Dead” och kommer 22 april. Första singeln – “Time of My Life”, kom i samband med deras Popagandaspelning i somras. Den 5 februari släpps den andra singeln, bitterljuva “So Happy, So Sad”.

Sångare och låtskrivare i Laakso är Markus Krunegård, en av Sveriges mest framgångsrika artister. De senaste åren har han skrivit låtar till både svenska och internationella storheter, samt turnerat landet runt. Något han fortsätter med under våren då han ger sig ut på en gigantisk soloturné innan det är dags för Laakso på heltid.

Men allt började 2003 med Laakso och under några energiska år tillsammans med bandkamraterna David Nygård, Lars Skoglund och Mikael Fritz radades det upp klassiska indiehits så som “High Drama”, “Norrköping”, “Västerbron” och “Italy vs Helsinki” innan bandet gick i dvala.

Nu är de alltså tillbaka med ett nytt album. Återigen på Adrian Recordings, där allt började. Återigen producerat av Jari Haapalainen.

Reflexions on the early ears:

First time we meet Laakso was in Uppsala Sweden, when they opened for David & the Citizens. They where amazing, such melodies and such drive. In centre then, as always Markus Krunegård’s bittersweet voice. You can never escape from it. It will always hunt you. We where all astonished and they played some more shows with David & the Citizens on our behalf. Soon I understood that there was a gold mine just beneath our feet. Well, We had Adrian Recordings and they where in need of a record label. So, we just got started.

We booked some days in the Gröndahl studio in Stockholm and the band had gotten to know Jari Haapalainen, now more known producer than then. Jari was to play a very important role in the future as well. The plan was to make an EP. And so we did. The “Long Beach EP”.

Days rolled by, shows where played, songs where written. It is sweet memories. The band experienced the strange but thrilling feeling of media hype and the plans for an album was just floating on by itself. Jari had just done an album with The Concretes together with Christoffer Lundqvist and he liked Christoffer’s studio “Aerosol Grey Machine”, out on a plain field in the south of Sweden. So we decided to be there. (The fact that Christoffer just recorded a solo album with Per Gessle (Roxette) there, didn’t scare us.) The debut album “I Miss You, I’m Pregnant” was recorded. Jesus!

Laakso did one more proper release on Adrian Recordings, the EP “Aussie Girl”. Both the band and Jari really stretched the boundaries here and listening to it in retrospective, you can here the five extra tracks is powered with extra everything. The songs, the arrangements and the recordings are overwhelming. Even the artwork is something extra. I’m not saying that the EP is Laakso’s best release, that wouldn’t be fair, I’m just saying it is something special.