Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk

Lauren Mann may be one of the best indie-folk rockers that you’ve never heard of. The Canadian musician tours relentlessly with her band, the Fairly Odd Folk. She released her second full-length album in May, “Over Land and Sea,” a beautiful work that easily draws in listeners with its subtle messages about life, love and the human journey.

The haunting “Fragile” quietly opens the album with a ukulele pattern that gives way to Mann’s pure, strong vocals. Her talent alone could have sold albums, yet she wisely worked with producer Aaron Marsh (formerly of Copeland) to craft her songs into something much more. The album is full of musical interludes showcasing such instruments as melodica, glockenspiel, clarinet, xylophone, organ and strings. They don’t add texture so much as mood and, at times, a fantastical feeling.

A real energy runs throughout, even on the more mellow songs such as “Lullaby,” which will speak to any mother. “I Lost Myself” thunders along rhythmically with a thick layer of production sounds. In the same way, the title track is a dynamic dance that combines tasteful production choices with real musicianship.

Mann succeeds with this album not only because it’s a great listen but also because it combines innocence with a real wisdom of heart as the tunes urge listeners to delve a little into themselves. - WASHINGTON POST - Moira E. McLaughlin

STORIES FROM HOME
Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk
Indie
7.5-out-of-10

Lauren Mann has one of those voices that tends to sparkle no matter whether a song has an upbeat, catchy sound, or whether she slows things down with a sadder tune. It's just a pretty voice which is a pleasure to listen too.
And, on her full CD debut Stories From Home, Mann certainly draws the listener in quickly. Lost in the Sound is the lead cut, and it's one of the best offerings on a very solid 11-song effort.
Stow Me Away contends for top honours as well, along with Lady in the Yellow Dress and Let's Go Into the Unknown.
The music is clearly folk at its heart, although one can see the influences of Mann's jazz training, and the reality of modern pop, adding brush strokes to the material.
"This album, Stories From Home, is a different sort of album," said Mann, who recently performed at 5th Avenue Cup & Saucer in Yorkton. "It's a collection of songs that I wrote and recorded over the past few years, some on my own, and some with a friend in Calgary who had a studio in his basement."
The finished product is very good, and Mann is rightfully happy with it.
"I think that “Stories From Home” is good as a self-produced and mostly self-recorded album," she said. "I’m proud of the songs, and I’m happy with how it turned out ….
"It’s also a good starting point to continue with. I think that writing those songs has helped me develop lyrically and musically as a musician, and I hope that development will be seen on future recordings."
This is a disk which should find a broad fan base as it has appeal in material and style which really does cross the barriers of age.
Check her out at www.laurenmannmusic.com
— CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Mar 9, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada - YORKTON THIS WEEK: Calvin Daniels - Staff Writer

STORIES FROM HOME
Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk
Indie
7.5-out-of-10

Lauren Mann has one of those voices that tends to sparkle no matter whether a song has an upbeat, catchy sound, or whether she slows things down with a sadder tune. It's just a pretty voice which is a pleasure to listen too.
And, on her full CD debut Stories From Home, Mann certainly draws the listener in quickly. Lost in the Sound is the lead cut, and it's one of the best offerings on a very solid 11-song effort.
Stow Me Away contends for top honours as well, along with Lady in the Yellow Dress and Let's Go Into the Unknown.
The music is clearly folk at its heart, although one can see the influences of Mann's jazz training, and the reality of modern pop, adding brush strokes to the material.
"This album, Stories From Home, is a different sort of album," said Mann, who recently performed at 5th Avenue Cup & Saucer in Yorkton. "It's a collection of songs that I wrote and recorded over the past few years, some on my own, and some with a friend in Calgary who had a studio in his basement."
The finished product is very good, and Mann is rightfully happy with it.
"I think that “Stories From Home” is good as a self-produced and mostly self-recorded album," she said. "I’m proud of the songs, and I’m happy with how it turned out ….
"It’s also a good starting point to continue with. I think that writing those songs has helped me develop lyrically and musically as a musician, and I hope that development will be seen on future recordings."
This is a disk which should find a broad fan base as it has appeal in material and style which really does cross the barriers of age.
Check her out at www.laurenmannmusic.com
— CALVIN DANIELS
-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Mar 9, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada - YORKTON THIS WEEK: Calvin Daniels - Staff Writer

This week's Chart Sizzler Award for the highest debut goes to Lauren Mann And The Fairly Odd Folk's Stories From Home, which debuts at #25. The disc is a compilation of Calgary-based Mann's first two EPs, Lauren Mann EP and the Lost and Found EP, plus three new songs. Luckless Kanye West, who didn't finish at #1 on CHARTattack's top 100 albums of 2010 chart, also fails to win the coveted CSA as his My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy debuts at #27. A word of advice, Lauren: Don't let Kanye bully you or stand near your mic! - CHARTATTACK.COM: Chris Burland

This week's Chart Sizzler Award for the highest debut goes to Lauren Mann And The Fairly Odd Folk's Stories From Home, which debuts at #25. The disc is a compilation of Calgary-based Mann's first two EPs, Lauren Mann EP and the Lost and Found EP, plus three new songs. Luckless Kanye West, who didn't finish at #1 on CHARTattack's top 100 albums of 2010 chart, also fails to win the coveted CSA as his My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy debuts at #27. A word of advice, Lauren: Don't let Kanye bully you or stand near your mic! - CHARTATTACK.COM: Chris Burland

“Writing a song is like telling a story. The words, melodies, chords, phrasing, intonation, they are all part of the story. That’s what I’ve been learning lately, and I believe it’s helped me write better songs. Don’t write just for the sake of writing, write to tell a story. There are an infinite number of stories in us, and they just need some medium to be told through. For me, I tell through song. Some tell through cans of paint on a canvas, some through words in a book, some through spoken word. It doesn’t matter how you tell your story, it just matters that it’s being told.”

“Stories From Home” is a compilation of songs from the Lauren Mann EP and the Lost and Found EP, as well as three unreleased tracks, all of which were written and recorded between 2006 and 2009. These are the stories of Lauren’s beginning, from her first years writing and recording in her parents’ basement. It tells the tales of years past, and is a prelude of things to come, including a cross-Canada tour commencing in early 2011, and recording at the Vanguard Room in Lakeland, Florida in April and May.

Lauren’s reflective songwriting and captivating folk-pop melodies will catch you off guard, and make you come back for more. Since starting to perform and record, Lauren has collaborated with many friends and musicians. She values the creativity that others can add to her music. All these friends, affectionately known as the “Fairly Odd Folk,” include, but are not limited to Jon Purshke, Aaron Fraser, Distance Bullock, Carissa Webster, Jon Seib, Elliott Mann, Andrew Hamill and Zoltan Szoges.

Don’t miss Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk in early 2011 in cities and towns throughout Canada, and make sure to stay in touch for further touring and recording.

For booking and all other inquiries, find us at: oddfolk@laurenmannmusic.com - VAMUSIC.CA

“Writing a song is like telling a story. The words, melodies, chords, phrasing, intonation, they are all part of the story. That’s what I’ve been learning lately, and I believe it’s helped me write better songs. Don’t write just for the sake of writing, write to tell a story. There are an infinite number of stories in us, and they just need some medium to be told through. For me, I tell through song. Some tell through cans of paint on a canvas, some through words in a book, some through spoken word. It doesn’t matter how you tell your story, it just matters that it’s being told.”

“Stories From Home” is a compilation of songs from the Lauren Mann EP and the Lost and Found EP, as well as three unreleased tracks, all of which were written and recorded between 2006 and 2009. These are the stories of Lauren’s beginning, from her first years writing and recording in her parents’ basement. It tells the tales of years past, and is a prelude of things to come, including a cross-Canada tour commencing in early 2011, and recording at the Vanguard Room in Lakeland, Florida in April and May.

Lauren’s reflective songwriting and captivating folk-pop melodies will catch you off guard, and make you come back for more. Since starting to perform and record, Lauren has collaborated with many friends and musicians. She values the creativity that others can add to her music. All these friends, affectionately known as the “Fairly Odd Folk,” include, but are not limited to Jon Purshke, Aaron Fraser, Distance Bullock, Carissa Webster, Jon Seib, Elliott Mann, Andrew Hamill and Zoltan Szoges.

Don’t miss Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk in early 2011 in cities and towns throughout Canada, and make sure to stay in touch for further touring and recording.

For booking and all other inquiries, find us at: oddfolk@laurenmannmusic.com - VAMUSIC.CA

Lauren Mann is a true artist. She is able to find art on any canvas whether it?s the plot of a novel, a movie that?s moved by script and music, lyrics to a song or friends she has made along her journey across Canada.

Visiting lovable atmospheres such as coffee shops Lauren and her husband, Zoltan, have been introducing themselves to the rest of Canada this winter during the All These Places tour. They’ve been exchanging their sounds in return for friendship, and a place to sleep.


?Yes, most of the shows we played on this tour were small coffee house shows. There are a lot of reasons I like shows like this. They?re always very relaxed and laid back, and since this is our first time playing music across Canada and we don?t know people in every town, it?s nice to be able to go to a coffee shop in a certain town and play for whoever is there and make new friends,? says singer-songwriter, Lauren Mann.

Stories From Home is the current release which Lauren Mann is supporting. It?s a compilation of early EP?s collected on one album, with songs that go back to 2006 where Lauren started her songwriting career by writing and recording in her parents basement.

What makes Lauren an exceptional songwriter is her ability to understand the process of building a song, and to recognize growth as a human and as an artist. ?One thing I?ve learned over time, especially in the past few months while writing for the new album, is that there are those rare times that you can sit down and write a complete song in one or two sittings but most of the time a good song needs to be developed, which takes time. It needs to simmer, like a good soup, so all the ideas and images and feelings can come out in the words and music, with the final product being even more honest and pure.?

Once the All These Places tour concludes Lauren Mann And The Fairly Odd Folk will be headed to Lakeland, Florida to record a new record, one that Lauren admits will be different from Stories From Home. Former Copeland frontman Aaron Marsh will be producing the record. Lauren Mann And The Fairly Odd Folk will be looking to collaborate with musicians in the Florida area and seeking new instruments to make the album sound large.

?I spent the fall writing for it, and the songs formed a sort of theme and storyline that holds them together, so the album will be a complete thought, from beginning to end. It will also be my first recording experience in a professional environment, and I?m really excited for the opportunity to devote all my time for two months exclusively on this project.?

As a lover of stories on all platforms, Lauren takes special interest in those involving true stories, historical stories and stories about travel. So far on the All These Places tour she has read a couple books, during her travels.

?I picked up a copy of Stuart Maclean?s Stories From The Vinyl Caf? at a used bookstore and absolutely loved it. Short stories are a lot of fun to read, and his are especially, maybe since it?s about a family that everyone can relate to on some level.?

Once April and May have come and gone and the new album is recorded, Lauren Mann And The Fairly Odd Folk will be hitting the Canadian highways again and ending the summer in Calgary for the Calgary Folk Festival. This fall will see the group doing some international travel and head to Denmark and the Czech Republic. There is no set release date for the new album, but Lauren figures it will be in early 2012.

Lauren Mann And The Fairly Odd Folk will be performing tonight in Corner Brook at Brewed on Bernard. The show starts at 6:30 PM with no cover, but donations will be graciously accepted.

**Due to a ferry cancellation, this show has been postponed until lunchtime tomorrow (March 29). It’s still at Brewed on Bernard but will take place from 11:30am – 1:30pm. - CORNERBROOKER: Gary Moore

Lauren Mann is a true artist. She is able to find art on any canvas whether it?s the plot of a novel, a movie that?s moved by script and music, lyrics to a song or friends she has made along her journey across Canada.

Visiting lovable atmospheres such as coffee shops Lauren and her husband, Zoltan, have been introducing themselves to the rest of Canada this winter during the All These Places tour. They’ve been exchanging their sounds in return for friendship, and a place to sleep.


?Yes, most of the shows we played on this tour were small coffee house shows. There are a lot of reasons I like shows like this. They?re always very relaxed and laid back, and since this is our first time playing music across Canada and we don?t know people in every town, it?s nice to be able to go to a coffee shop in a certain town and play for whoever is there and make new friends,? says singer-songwriter, Lauren Mann.

Stories From Home is the current release which Lauren Mann is supporting. It?s a compilation of early EP?s collected on one album, with songs that go back to 2006 where Lauren started her songwriting career by writing and recording in her parents basement.

What makes Lauren an exceptional songwriter is her ability to understand the process of building a song, and to recognize growth as a human and as an artist. ?One thing I?ve learned over time, especially in the past few months while writing for the new album, is that there are those rare times that you can sit down and write a complete song in one or two sittings but most of the time a good song needs to be developed, which takes time. It needs to simmer, like a good soup, so all the ideas and images and feelings can come out in the words and music, with the final product being even more honest and pure.?

Once the All These Places tour concludes Lauren Mann And The Fairly Odd Folk will be headed to Lakeland, Florida to record a new record, one that Lauren admits will be different from Stories From Home. Former Copeland frontman Aaron Marsh will be producing the record. Lauren Mann And The Fairly Odd Folk will be looking to collaborate with musicians in the Florida area and seeking new instruments to make the album sound large.

?I spent the fall writing for it, and the songs formed a sort of theme and storyline that holds them together, so the album will be a complete thought, from beginning to end. It will also be my first recording experience in a professional environment, and I?m really excited for the opportunity to devote all my time for two months exclusively on this project.?

As a lover of stories on all platforms, Lauren takes special interest in those involving true stories, historical stories and stories about travel. So far on the All These Places tour she has read a couple books, during her travels.

?I picked up a copy of Stuart Maclean?s Stories From The Vinyl Caf? at a used bookstore and absolutely loved it. Short stories are a lot of fun to read, and his are especially, maybe since it?s about a family that everyone can relate to on some level.?

Once April and May have come and gone and the new album is recorded, Lauren Mann And The Fairly Odd Folk will be hitting the Canadian highways again and ending the summer in Calgary for the Calgary Folk Festival. This fall will see the group doing some international travel and head to Denmark and the Czech Republic. There is no set release date for the new album, but Lauren figures it will be in early 2012.

Lauren Mann And The Fairly Odd Folk will be performing tonight in Corner Brook at Brewed on Bernard. The show starts at 6:30 PM with no cover, but donations will be graciously accepted.

**Due to a ferry cancellation, this show has been postponed until lunchtime tomorrow (March 29). It’s still at Brewed on Bernard but will take place from 11:30am – 1:30pm. - CORNERBROOKER: Gary Moore

Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk are a folk-pop outfit that will pluck the sunflower petals off your heart one by one and serenade you while they’re doing it. The singer-songwriter and her backing band have come a long way from playing local house shows. The proof? A forthcoming and as-yet-untitled sophomore LP, slated for release this winter. Mann, a Langley native-turned-Calgarian, completed two years of a BA in International Relations at the University of Calgary. She has, however, officially left the ivory grasp of Canadian academia and is pursuing a more, ahem, practical education in plucky folk-pop melodies. Fresh off a 65-date cross-Canada tour entitled “All These Places,” Mann and her backing band have already embarked on their “Summer of Colour” tour to further promote her November 2010 release Stories from Home. Mann and her band will make a stop at her hometown’s Broken City on June 9.

The Gauntlet: Your music has been described by critics and fans alike as indie, folk, pop and all three. How would you describe your own music?

Lauren Mann: Those are good descriptions! I usually describe it as folk-pop. It’s not traditional folk, but it definitely has that foundation, and it’s not mainstream pop, but it has pop elements.

G: Let’s backtrack a little. What’s the “story from home” that led you to leave school and pursue music?

LM: I loved the program, but after the second year, I found it really difficult to focus on school, working part-time and playing music all at the same time, so I decided to put school on hold and work and play music. I worked at Goodwill thrift store full-time and put most of my energy into music, and then after [my bandmate and now-husband] Zoltan and I got married, we jumped into music full-time. We plan on touring for at least the next few years, and just taking it one step at a time and seeing where it takes us. Right now, it’s our career, so we’re putting all our energy into it. As for long-term plans, I know I’ll always be writing and playing, and what that looks like in the future, who knows!

G: You place emphasis on the theme of stories, and also use this as a metaphor in describing your writing process. How do you write stories? What’s your story, or the story you’re trying to convey?

LM: Thinking of songs as stories really helped me to use the words and the music in conjunction to create a piece of art. . . the idea behind Stories from Home is that all the songs are my starting point — they were some of the first songs I wrote and performed, so collectively they are the stories of where I came from. Having that theme in both recordings wasn’t really intentional. I guess stories are just the foundation of a lot of things in culture, so it just came out like that.

G: You released Stories from Home without a label, and it seems as if you intend to do the same with your second LP. Is this a personal choice? Are you currently looking to collaborate with a label, or do you seek to continue releasing independently?

LM: With Stories from Home, we just wanted to have something to start touring with, so we didn’t really even consider talking to a label about it. I really like working independently. It’s a lot of work and can get fairly exhausting, but when you put so much of your own effort into something, it’s really rewarding to see the results, and that’s been the case, especially for the “All These Places” tour. We put a lot of work into it, and even though some shows were really small . . . [we] made lots of friends and got to know people all across the country. So it makes it worth it. There are a lot of benefits to being with a label, so someday if an opportunity comes up we might consider it, but for now, we’re going to continue to do things independently.

G: You’re currently recording your sophomore release at the Vanguard Room in Florida. How did you come to work with producer Aaron Marsh, former lead singer of the now-defunct Florida indie band Copeland?

LM: Well, Zoltan and I decided we wanted to do music full-time, and so we thought that if we were going to do that we’d need a new album, since I’ve been playing the songs [that will make up] Stories from Home for a few years. So we looked at different producers of bands that I like and listen to. Copeland is one of my favorite bands, and Aaron Marsh . . . is now producing full-time. We found his studio and e-mailed him seeing if he would want to work with us, and he was really into it! It was pretty amazing for me to get to work with someone I’ve looked up to in the music industry for years and to have his influence on the album.

G: You’re calling your summer tour the “Summer of Colour.” What inspired this?

LM: The name came about just in thinking about summer, and to me, summer is all about bright colours and being outside and enjoying life, so I thought that the name represented that well.

G: What are you most looking forward to this summer?

LM: I’m really excited ab - THE GAUNTLET: Andrea Rojas - Entertainment Editor

Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk are a folk-pop outfit that will pluck the sunflower petals off your heart one by one and serenade you while they’re doing it. The singer-songwriter and her backing band have come a long way from playing local house shows. The proof? A forthcoming and as-yet-untitled sophomore LP, slated for release this winter. Mann, a Langley native-turned-Calgarian, completed two years of a BA in International Relations at the University of Calgary. She has, however, officially left the ivory grasp of Canadian academia and is pursuing a more, ahem, practical education in plucky folk-pop melodies. Fresh off a 65-date cross-Canada tour entitled “All These Places,” Mann and her backing band have already embarked on their “Summer of Colour” tour to further promote her November 2010 release Stories from Home. Mann and her band will make a stop at her hometown’s Broken City on June 9.

The Gauntlet: Your music has been described by critics and fans alike as indie, folk, pop and all three. How would you describe your own music?

Lauren Mann: Those are good descriptions! I usually describe it as folk-pop. It’s not traditional folk, but it definitely has that foundation, and it’s not mainstream pop, but it has pop elements.

G: Let’s backtrack a little. What’s the “story from home” that led you to leave school and pursue music?

LM: I loved the program, but after the second year, I found it really difficult to focus on school, working part-time and playing music all at the same time, so I decided to put school on hold and work and play music. I worked at Goodwill thrift store full-time and put most of my energy into music, and then after [my bandmate and now-husband] Zoltan and I got married, we jumped into music full-time. We plan on touring for at least the next few years, and just taking it one step at a time and seeing where it takes us. Right now, it’s our career, so we’re putting all our energy into it. As for long-term plans, I know I’ll always be writing and playing, and what that looks like in the future, who knows!

G: You place emphasis on the theme of stories, and also use this as a metaphor in describing your writing process. How do you write stories? What’s your story, or the story you’re trying to convey?

LM: Thinking of songs as stories really helped me to use the words and the music in conjunction to create a piece of art. . . the idea behind Stories from Home is that all the songs are my starting point — they were some of the first songs I wrote and performed, so collectively they are the stories of where I came from. Having that theme in both recordings wasn’t really intentional. I guess stories are just the foundation of a lot of things in culture, so it just came out like that.

G: You released Stories from Home without a label, and it seems as if you intend to do the same with your second LP. Is this a personal choice? Are you currently looking to collaborate with a label, or do you seek to continue releasing independently?

LM: With Stories from Home, we just wanted to have something to start touring with, so we didn’t really even consider talking to a label about it. I really like working independently. It’s a lot of work and can get fairly exhausting, but when you put so much of your own effort into something, it’s really rewarding to see the results, and that’s been the case, especially for the “All These Places” tour. We put a lot of work into it, and even though some shows were really small . . . [we] made lots of friends and got to know people all across the country. So it makes it worth it. There are a lot of benefits to being with a label, so someday if an opportunity comes up we might consider it, but for now, we’re going to continue to do things independently.

G: You’re currently recording your sophomore release at the Vanguard Room in Florida. How did you come to work with producer Aaron Marsh, former lead singer of the now-defunct Florida indie band Copeland?

LM: Well, Zoltan and I decided we wanted to do music full-time, and so we thought that if we were going to do that we’d need a new album, since I’ve been playing the songs [that will make up] Stories from Home for a few years. So we looked at different producers of bands that I like and listen to. Copeland is one of my favorite bands, and Aaron Marsh . . . is now producing full-time. We found his studio and e-mailed him seeing if he would want to work with us, and he was really into it! It was pretty amazing for me to get to work with someone I’ve looked up to in the music industry for years and to have his influence on the album.

G: You’re calling your summer tour the “Summer of Colour.” What inspired this?

LM: The name came about just in thinking about summer, and to me, summer is all about bright colours and being outside and enjoying life, so I thought that the name represented that well.

G: What are you most looking forward to this summer?

LM: I’m really excited ab - THE GAUNTLET: Andrea Rojas - Entertainment Editor