A barrelhouse honky-tonk piano to a duel-guitar attack. A powerful rhythm section and passionate vocals with insightful songwriting shape ELLA ROUGE's sonic intensity.

11 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Modern Rock, POP: Power Pop



Details:
ELLA ROUGE

Ludvig Andersson, vocals
Max Lachmann, guitar
Johan Moraeus, guitar
Mats Lundgren, piano
Magnus Eugenson, bass
Hasse Sjölander, drums


It turns out that the recipe for rock & roll success isnât a very difficult one at all.

Simply take six talented musicians and isolate them in a cozy studio on an island in the Baltic Sea. Add some outrageous weather, complete with hurricane-force gales, to help concentrate frisky young minds on the task at hand. Sprinkle in a variety of impromptu magical musical moments, and voila!â¦you have the formula for the amazing self-titled debut album from the sextet of Swedes known as ELLA ROUGE.

Well, okay, upon further review, itâs not that easyâ¦but whatever works. And in this case it worked very well, indeed, as the 11 songs on ELLA ROUGE represent a transcendent tour through a marvelous musical realm. From the very start, with album opener âThatâs Me With the Gunâ and its somewhat sinister lyrics, âDonât mind me, though inside your head/I wonât make a sound,â the listener realizes that this isnât a typical first effort. Whether itâs the wistful yearning and lilting lyricism of âHolly Golightly,â a passionate paean to the heroine of âBreakfast at Tiffanyâsâ; the hard-charging, driving beat of the rambunctious âL.A. Dogs,â or the wryly autobiographical edge of âEldorado High,â thereâs a mood for every moment on the disc. Combine this with some masterful musicianship, featuring everything from barrelhouse honky-tonk piano to an intertwining dual guitar attack propelled by a powerful, potent rhythm section, and the result is an ultimately unforgettable sonic experience.

âI think we knew from our first rehearsal that we had something,â observes singer/songwriter Ludvig Andersson. âUsually it takes a while to get to know each other, personally and professionally, but here we had a bunch of guys who had seemed to play together for over 10 yearsâ¦after just one rehearsal!â

This immediate rapport was only strengthened by the recording conditions: the group convened at producer Micke Lyanderâs studio on an island in the Baltic Sea during the winter of 2005, an isolated locale that grew even moreso with a series of stinging winter storms. Throw in the devastation caused by the Asian tsunami, and the mood in the studio started off as a somber one. That quickly changed, however, as the conditions called for a certain camaraderie. âDuring the recording we lived together in six army beds in the attic of the studio,â relates guitarist Max Lachmann. âWe did everything together. We had fights, parties, good times, sad times and a lot of jam sessions together.â

This intimacy produced remarkable results, with all 11 tracks on the album being recorded, live, in two weeksâ time. But perhaps none was more noteworthy than the recording session that produced the gorgeous ballad âWeary.â âWe had been trying out a few versions for a while, just checking key, tempo, etc.,â recalls pianist Mats Lundgren. âThen Ludvig and I start playingâ¦and itâs as if the world stopped spinning and Time took a few minutes off to see what magic is happening at the studio.â

âThe song was originally supposed to be a full-band rock song and everybody was getting ready to go at it,â adds Ludvig. âWhile waiting for the others Mats and I decided to play the song through just once for practice. He started playing his old grand piano very slowly and delicately and I just tagged along. When we where finished Micke, our producer who had been listening on his earphones, came running, screaming, âThat was amazing!â We asked if he wanted us to do it again, and he replied, âYou donât have to; I had a good feeling about it, so I secretly rolled tape while you played.â So, what you hear on the album is that one practice run-through that Micke secretly recorded on a cold winter night somewhere in the middle of the Baltic Sea.â

And thatâs merely one of the many magical moments that went into the recording of this extraordinary debut disc. But enough of the verbiage; music, after all, speaks much louder than wordsâ¦so why not put this aside and place ELLA ROUGE in your CD player, and experience the glorious wonder for yourself?