Laleh’s “Colors” Shine Through Island

Laleh Introduced This Week with “Colors,” Debut U.S. Single on Island Records

“Colors” Highlights Debut U.S. EP, Boom, Arriving September 30th
from Prolific Swedish-Based Singer, Producer, & Songwriter

EP to Include “Some Die Young,” 14x-Platinum, Award-Winning, Healing Anthem

The astonishing international life and times of Laleh, newest addition to the Island Records artist roster, are only surpassed by her original music, introduced this week on her soaring U.S. debut single “Colors,” opening track of her first American EP release, BOOM, set for September 30th release.

“Colors” premieres on Refinery29 today — who praise the track (“’Colors’ gorgeously parallels the sounds of Kate Bush, Björk, and Marina and The Diamonds”) and Laleh’s sound (“her ability to push vocal boundaries is something we definitely want to keep tabs on”).

In addition to “Colors,” the 5-song EP will include EP title track, “Boom,” “Stars Align” and “Elephant” (full tracklisting below). As with all of her recordings since she debuted in 2005, the music is entirely written, produced and performed by Laleh.

Amongst the highlights of BOOM is Laleh’s landmark composition, “Some Die Young,” which became both an anthem and the biggest selling single throughout Scandinavia in 2012. After Laleh issued the song on her album Sjung, it topped charts across Scandinavia, and went to #1 for eight consecutive weeks in Norway, where it was certified 14-times platinum.

Laleh was invited to perform “Some Die Young” everywhere from the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo, to a memorial concert in Oslo marking the first anniversary of the attacks. (She and Bruce Springsteen were the only non-Norwegian artists to perform at the concert.) At the Swedish Radio Chart Prize Awards, “Some Die Young” won Song Of the Year, and earned Laleh Artist Of the Year and Composer Of the Year honors. At Sweden’s 2013 Grammis Awards (equivalent of our Grammy Awards®), where Laleh had previously won three awards her debut year (2005), “Some Die Young” was nominated for Song Of the Year, and Laleh earned nom­inations as Composer Of the Year, Pop Artist Of the Year, and Lyricist Of the Year.

The remarkable journey of new Island Records star Laleh (pronounced La-ley) began in the northern Iranian border town of Bandar-e Anzali, where she was born, fleeing that war-torn country a year later, first to Azerbaijan, then to Minsk in Russia, and finally, at the age of 9, a political refugee camp in Tidaholm, Sweden. There her school had an instrument room and Laleh used to sneak a guitar home on weekends. With encouragement from both her mother and her teachers, Laleh began to play and write songs. Fast forward to her mega-success today in her adoptive homeland, where she performed with a symphony orchestra for an historic show in Gothenburg, and witnessed songs from Sjung capture five out of the top six positions on the iTunes Swedish singles chart.

Ultimately, her refugee background is reflected in her music, as she wrenches songs from experience, order from chaos, hope from despair and, ultimately, life from death. And yet there is more, much more, to Laleh, whose richly textured music and evocative imagery recall the lyrical and sonic adventurousness of Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, and Björk – true artists and inventive boundary pushers whose work manages to remain both grounded and uplifting.

Still, she insists, after five albums and a decade as a recording artist, “I don’t want to be just my story. I want to be myself. I am a human being first, then my story – not the opposite. I always want the freedom to reinvent myself, to give myself a second chance, or rewrite the story in another way. That freedom to redefine oneself, that is what I’m always writing about.”

BOOM EP TRACKLIST:
1. Colors
2. Boom
3. Some Die Young
4. Stars Align
5. Elephant