Lowe (band)
Encyclopedia
Lowe is a Swedish
synthpop
band formed in 2002 by Leo Josefsson (vocals/guitar), Rickard Gunnarsson (bass) and Mehdi Bagherzadeh (keyboards). The music can be described as emotional pop
, contrived with electronic
elements. Their first three singles ”The Vanishing”, ”Ahead Of Our Time” and "Hear Me Out" quickly earned them the reputation as ”the new hope for Swedish pop”. The band has been compared to such artists as Depeche Mode
, New Order
, Keane and A-ha
.
project. When former Statemachine member Albion left the band in 2001 it felt natural to bring Leo in. That's when they started to talk about Lowe, and luckily Statemachine has decided to take a small break at the time. They agreed of naming the band Lowe, as a kind of mixture between the English words "love" and "low", which describes their music very well. Mehdi left the band in the beginning of 2009, with Leo and Rickard continuing as a duo on the Kino International Tour. Long time friend Tobias Ersson, which had been a live keyboardist on tour, joined Lowe in the spring of 2009, after extensive touring in Russia, Ukraine and Turkey.
Leo comes from a small industrial town called Oxelösund
, but now lives in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden
. He's a professional songwriter and producer, and has worked with artists such as Rednex
, Shebang, Daze
and Yaki-Da
. He is also a well known and respected music video director and has worked with artists like Kent
, The Pusher
, Alex Saidac, Anna Bergendahl
, The Mobile Homes, Dupont
, AiluCrash, Michaela de la Cour. Leo's grand father was the world champion wrestler Karl Karlsson (Big Swede, Krusher Karlsson), who owned the title 2 times in the 1960s.
Rickard was born and raised in Stockholm
. He has played in several bands since childhood, released his first record when he was 7 and has performed live with artists such as Moby
and West End Girls
. Rickard’s father, Rutger Gunnarsson, is one of Sweden’s most famous musicians and used to play with ABBA
amongst other artists.
Tobias was born and raised in Stockholm
, he and Rickard met when they were 15 and started playing together in a band called Enemy Alliance. The music was heavily influenced by bands like Skinny Puppy and Front Line Assembly, and another member of that band was also Eric Prydz
. Tobias produced parts of Lowe's album ”Kino International” and is also the producer and keyboard player of Rezonance, which is released by Lowe's own record label Megahype.
Their music has already received national and international recognition. Lowe won the ”Newcomer Of The Year” award at Scandinavian Alternative Music Awards
2005, and was also the only band nominated in three categories, “Newcomer Of The Year”, “Best Song” and “Best Album”.
In 2005 the band contributed to a Camouflage
tribute project done by electronic
artists called "Strange Thoughts" with the cover of "That Smiling Face", in the song, the voice has such passion, emotion and the right depressive touch, that was acclaimed in the alternative electronic music
community.
Tobias Ersson joined Lowe as a full time member in 2009 after extensive touring with the band as a live keyboardist.
Starting from april 2010 Lowe has released several track from their third album "Evolver" that will be released in 2011.
Their records are released through Lowe's own label Megahype (http://www.megahype.com).
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
band formed in 2002 by Leo Josefsson (vocals/guitar), Rickard Gunnarsson (bass) and Mehdi Bagherzadeh (keyboards). The music can be described as emotional pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, contrived with electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
elements. Their first three singles ”The Vanishing”, ”Ahead Of Our Time” and "Hear Me Out" quickly earned them the reputation as ”the new hope for Swedish pop”. The band has been compared to such artists as Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
, New Order
New Order
New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris...
, Keane and A-ha
A-ha
A-ha were a Norwegian pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. The band was founded by Morten Harket , Magne Furuholmen , and Pål Waaktaar...
.
History
The band born when Rickard Gunnarsson, Leo Josefsson of the Swedish band Statemachine and Mehdi Bagherzadeh decides to work together in a new electronic musicElectronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
project. When former Statemachine member Albion left the band in 2001 it felt natural to bring Leo in. That's when they started to talk about Lowe, and luckily Statemachine has decided to take a small break at the time. They agreed of naming the band Lowe, as a kind of mixture between the English words "love" and "low", which describes their music very well. Mehdi left the band in the beginning of 2009, with Leo and Rickard continuing as a duo on the Kino International Tour. Long time friend Tobias Ersson, which had been a live keyboardist on tour, joined Lowe in the spring of 2009, after extensive touring in Russia, Ukraine and Turkey.
Leo comes from a small industrial town called Oxelösund
Oxelösund
Oxelösund is a locality and the seat of Oxelösund Municipality in Södermanland County, Sweden with 10,843 inhabitants in 2005.- History :The harbour at Oxelösund has been used for at least 500 years. In the 19th century, an increased extraction from the Mining district of Central Sweden , made...
, but now lives in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. He's a professional songwriter and producer, and has worked with artists such as Rednex
Rednex
Rednex is a Swedish techno/folk/bluegrass band. They had an international novelty hit with the song "Cotton Eye Joe" in 1994. Although extremely popular in Germany, where the band holds the record of most total weeks at No.1 on the German singles chart over the past 30 years—scoring such hits as...
, Shebang, Daze
Daze
Daze may refer to:*Daze, Burkina Faso, a village in Tenkodogo Department, Boulgou, Burkina Faso*Daze , a Eurodance band*Daze , a fictional character who appeared in Marvel Comics' MC2 series J2...
and Yaki-Da
Yaki-Da
Yaki-Da were a Swedish pop group consisting of singers Marie Knutsen and Linda Schönberg. They were put together by Ace of Base band member and producer Jonas "Joker" Berggren...
. He is also a well known and respected music video director and has worked with artists like Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, The Pusher
The Pusher
"The Pusher" is a rock song written by Hoyt Axton, made popular by the 1969 movie Easy Rider which used Steppenwolf's version to accompany the opening scenes of drug trafficking....
, Alex Saidac, Anna Bergendahl
Anna Bergendahl
Anna Henrietta Bergendahl is a Swedish singer. She was born in Stockholm and raised in Nyköping and Katrineholm. Bergendahl is of partial Irish descent as her grandmother was born and lives in Ireland, and Anna's first performance in front of an audience was made in a cathedral in York when she...
, The Mobile Homes, Dupont
Dupont
-Companies:*E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , one of the world's largest chemical companies*Du Pont Motors*Gilbert Dupont, a French stock brokerage part of retail banking network Crédit du Nord...
, AiluCrash, Michaela de la Cour. Leo's grand father was the world champion wrestler Karl Karlsson (Big Swede, Krusher Karlsson), who owned the title 2 times in the 1960s.
Rickard was born and raised in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. He has played in several bands since childhood, released his first record when he was 7 and has performed live with artists such as Moby
Moby
Richard Melville Hall , better known by his stage name Moby, is an American musician, DJ, and photographer. He is known mainly for his sample-based electronic music and his outspoken liberal political views, including his support of veganism and animal rights.Moby gained attention in the early...
and West End Girls
West End Girls
"West End Girls" is a song by British pop duo Pet Shop Boys. Written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, the song was released twice as a single. It is a synthpop song, influenced by hip hop music. The lyrics focus on class, and inner-city pressure, and were inspired by T.S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land...
. Rickard’s father, Rutger Gunnarsson, is one of Sweden’s most famous musicians and used to play with ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
amongst other artists.
Tobias was born and raised in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, he and Rickard met when they were 15 and started playing together in a band called Enemy Alliance. The music was heavily influenced by bands like Skinny Puppy and Front Line Assembly, and another member of that band was also Eric Prydz
Eric Prydz
Eric Sheridan Prydz is a Swedish DJ and producer based in London, United Kingdom. The pronunciation of his surname is often questioned; it is pronounced "prids", but when under his alias, Pryda, it is pronounced "pride-ah"...
. Tobias produced parts of Lowe's album ”Kino International” and is also the producer and keyboard player of Rezonance, which is released by Lowe's own record label Megahype.
Their music has already received national and international recognition. Lowe won the ”Newcomer Of The Year” award at Scandinavian Alternative Music Awards
Scandinavian Alternative Music Awards
Scandinavian Alternative Music Awards , was a music festival and award ceremony for electronic music held each year in Gothenburg between 1998 and 2007....
2005, and was also the only band nominated in three categories, “Newcomer Of The Year”, “Best Song” and “Best Album”.
In 2005 the band contributed to a Camouflage
Camouflage (band)
Camouflage is a German New Wave trio consisting of Marcus Meyn, Heiko Maile and Oliver Kreyssig. Their only Billboard Hot 100 hit was "The Great Commandment" which climbed to #59 in 1988, though it did spend three weeks at #1 on the US dance chart...
tribute project done by electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
artists called "Strange Thoughts" with the cover of "That Smiling Face", in the song, the voice has such passion, emotion and the right depressive touch, that was acclaimed in the alternative electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
community.
Tobias Ersson joined Lowe as a full time member in 2009 after extensive touring with the band as a live keyboardist.
Starting from april 2010 Lowe has released several track from their third album "Evolver" that will be released in 2011.
Their records are released through Lowe's own label Megahype (http://www.megahype.com).
Members
- Leo Josefsson (vocals)
- Rickard Gunnarsson (bass guitar & backing vocals)
- Tobias Ersson (synthesizer & machines)
Discography
- Albums
- Evolver (2011)
- Kino International (2008)
- Tenant Remixed (2007)
- Tenant Limited Edition (2005)
- Tenant (2004)
- Singles
- Breathe In Breathe Out (May 18, 2011)
- Live to Love (July 23, 2010)
- Adorable (June 25, 2010)
- Alone in the Dark (May 28, 2010)
- Alpha Bravo (April 30, 2010)
- Mirage (March 17, 2010)
- Berlin Night Express (2009)
- A 1000 Miles (2008)
- My Song (2006)
- Simplicity (2005)
- Hear Me Out (2004)
- Ahead of Our Time (2004)
- The Vanishing (2003)