Album Notes

The startling, romantic voice of singer Ana Laan was born in Madrid and matured in Stockholm, Sweden. The daughter of a Spanish professor of literature and an American mother, Ana was raised in a home where learning was revered and multi-culturalism was the norm.

As a teenager who spoke several languages fluently (including English, Spanish and Swedish) she returned to Spain to finish her secondary education and then went on to University in Madrid, where she studied English Literature in earnest. To this day, Ana remains a great reader of books and a woman deeply involved in the cultural movements of the world. She is particularly taken with the plight of the outsider, perhaps because she, too, has felt what the outsider feels as she has traveled from country to country.

Which makes the intimacy and domestic charm of her debut Nardis Music release all the more remarkable. It is the other side of her internationalism, the voice of the internal emigre, so common in the world today as we all seek our own geographic and emotional roots. Ana Lann has learned to personalize the modern human condition in a very intimate way.

She does not come by this artistic sophistication lightly. Upon graduating from the University, she decided to develop her remarkable singing voice by joining a wide range of Spanish-speaking artists both on tour and in the studio. Her list of credits includes supporting the likes of Javier Álvarez, Sergio Dalma, Jorge Drexler, Diego Vasallo, Christina Rosenvinge and even David Broza.

Ironically, Ana Laan has recently become something of a celebrity in Spain, not for the truth she likes to sing about on her Nardis Music debut, but for her ability to craft convincing musical characters with her voice: she regularly records for the Spanish indie lounge label Siesta under the pseudonym Rita Calypso and, in 2002, her CD called Apocalypso enjoyed rave reviews and strong sales. (Spain's major daily El País voted Apocalypso CD of the week and awarded it 4 stars.)

Oregano represents the experience of today's international woman. Laan herself is a person of many cultures. Born in Madrid to a Swedish father and American mother, and raised in Stockholm, this multilingual performer conveys romance and mellow exoticism with music inspired by a vast international tradition. Borrowing from a vast array of musical threads - lounge, bossa nova, acoustic folk and even techno instrumentalism -- Laan weaves a captivating new web of great music for North American ears.

From the Chicago Tribune:

"Aside from the intriguing electronic pop of Ana Laan, the year in Latin music was marked by the absence of any exciting new voices...The debut album by this intriguing singer from Spain went by unnoticed in this country. A pity, because Laan's sultry electronic pop could very much turn her into the Hispanic version of Bjork. The title track, a bittersweet vignette describing the quiet frustration of a housewife on the verge of a nervous breakdown, is probably the most poignant Latin song of the year." - Ernesto Lechner