Search - Laura Jansen :: Bells

Laura Jansen is primed to break out in 2011 with her US debut album Bells, a breathtaking collection of dreamy, piano-based alt-pop songs, out March 22 on Decca Records. Born in the Netherlands to a family constantly on the move, the LA-based Jansen spent her teens moving around Europe and the US. That sense of longing for connection and a hunt for home, along with a Christmas Day end to a rocky relationship, deeply affects the Hotel Café mainstay's music. In early 2011, Jansen will tour with Joshua Radin and Cary Brothers, make a stop at SXSW and head out on the Hotel Café tour later in the year. This is Jansen's second tour with Radin, who fell in love with her music after seeing her play the Hotel Café, the LA hotbed and musical incubator. Laura was even invited to perform with Joshua at Ellen DeGeneres' wedding. Jansen's touring partners have also included Ingrid Michaelson and William Fitzsimmons. Bells, already platinum in Jansen's native Holland, is a layered confection of piano melodies and pristine vocals, with all songs written by Jansen except for a stunning, bare-bones cover of Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody," which has spent over a year in the top regions of the Dutch singles chart. "Single Girls," the album's emotionally loaded first single, is a breathy, delicate pop metaphor for the devastation of getting your heart smashed to pieces. Title track "Bells," inspired by the homesickness felt after a real-life breakup and the pealing of church bells, is a pure outpouring of sweetness and grief. But it's not all songs of woe. At the other end of the spectrum, the playful, wily "Wicked World" transforms seemingly innocent fairy tales into stories of wanton naughtiness and urges listeners to let down their hair to its ragtime beat.