Laurel Music

Laurel Music originated as a vehicle for the warmly traditional folk-pop compositions of Tobias Isaksson once the songwriter mailed a demo to Sweden’s respected indie imprint Labrador Records. Although the label executives admired his tender and delicate songcraft, they hesitated over his “less than beautiful” vocal delivery and therefore proposed a collaboration with Malin Dahlberg, the singer from Douglas Heart. Living apart at the time—Dahlberg in Umeå and Isaksson in Göteborg—the pair began corresponding through letters and mixtapes, discovering common ground in Ida, the Smiths, Tim Hardin, the Walker Brothers, and assorted other folk and indie figures. After contributing several tracks to a Labrador compilation, the project grew into a trio upon the arrival of Douglas Heart drummer Max Sjöholm. A pair of singles preceded the 2004 release of This Night and the Next, a relaxed collection of gentle, noticeably country-tinged pop songs captured by the three musicians with occasional instrumental support from associates; onstage the group has ranged from two to six members. The next summer they tracked a follow-up effort shaped by ’80s and ’90s guitar pop and temporarily titled Cycles, yet the album stayed on the shelf for several years. During that interval Dahlberg and Sjöholm remained active in Douglas Heart, Isaksson stepped forward as frontman of the retro-styled pop collective Irene, and Dahlberg launched her own venture, We Are Soldiers We Have Guns.