Josefin Ohrn & The Liberation

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“Beautifully controlled, understated, subtle but infectious.” The Guardian-“The Josefin Öhrn record is ridiculously good.” Lauren Laverne (BBC 6 Music)-“Mesmerising with a flair for motorik groove and creepy pop grandeur” Uncut-“An enthralling band” Mojo-“Music to shine light into our lives.” ViceWe inhabit an era in which ‘psychedelia’ can often mean merely a grab-bag of influences from which wah-wah pedals and two-note riffs are dispensed as signifiers and signposts into a realm of easy accessibility rather than gateways to another dimension. Thus, it can be something of a rarity to come across a band who are genuinely fixated on creating alternate realities for the listener. Yet this is exactly how Stockholm’s Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation view their incandescent art, and it’s this sensibility that’s led to the kaleidoscopic splendour of their two albums for Rocket Recordings, ‘Horse Dance’ (2015) and ‘Mirage’ (2016). 

The band has seen a dramatic rise to prominence since the release of their debut EP ‘Diamond Waves in 2014, which initially led to prominent shows in their homeland, a nomination for a Swedish Grammy as best newcomer and a rapturously received appearance at Roskilde. These adventures set the stage for a spectacular movement into the unknown once they’d signed to Rocket Recordings. ‘Horse Dance’ was a razorsharp collection of songs that married dreamlike radiance with hypnotic rhythmic drive – a realm in which a propulsive ‘60s-tinged pop song could be elevated skyward with krautrock-tinged repetition, dub echo and analogue curlicues alike, and one in which a Broadcast-style mantra can tap into a psychic lineage that stretches all the way from The United States Of America and Serge Gainsbourg to Portishead’s ‘Third’.

Their second album ‘Mirage’ proved an even more captivating journey, with infectious songcraft elucidated by a prismatic experimental glow, and influences as diverse as Kandinsky’s abstract expressions of synaesthesia and the avant-jazz of Moondog coalescing into seductive melody and motorik magnificence – perhaps most potently on the uplifting shimmer of ‘Rushing Through My Mind’ It was jubilantly received across UK Radio’s BBC6 Music, climaxing in a Lauren Laverne BBC6 Live session and playlist spots, a full European tour with fellow Swedes Goat, appearances at Glastonbury and Blue Dot Festivals and a sold-out UK headline tour. The album also won the band the prestigious ‘Composer Of The Year’ award at the Manifest Music Awards in Sweden.Since the release of ‘Mirage’ Josefin and writing partner Fredrik relocated from Stockholm to London and have created a new Liberation around them – this new band consists of the powerful and intuitive assemblage of guitarists Maki (Go Team) Patrick C Smith (Eskimo Chain) and Ben Ellis, who’s worked with both Iggy Pop and Swervedriver.

These new additions are currently locked in the studio working with Stereolab’s Andy Ramsey on the much anticipated follow-up to Mirage which has a planned release for Spring 2018. What transpires is sure to be a sound as biting as it is beatific, not to mention a collision course between the chic and the transcendental.