As we gear up for our drive west to LA this weekend, what better to prepare us than an inspirational song about long journeys over the sea, as sung by a shipbuilder’s daughter with the help of The Silverlake Conservatory of Music Youth Chorale?
Mr Little Jeans is no Mister at all, it would seem. No, Mr Little Jeans is the moniker for one Monica Birkenes. As her promo materials put it—”she is small and Norwegian and she makes music that will leave you reeling.”
We have yet to meet Ms. Birkenes or see any photographs of her next to an automobile or a yard stick or our cat for sense of scale, but we can attest to the latter fact—her sound is dramatically gargantuan.
Birkenes grew up in the small seaside town of Grimstad, Norway, with a catamaran-building father and music-loving mother. Pursuing her own growing love of music, Birkenes moved to London at a young age and eventually on to her current home, LA, working with notable producers along the way to define her sound.
Give this week’s Song, “Oh Sailor”, a listen to see what we mean about her dramatic hooks. She moves from dark, sparse, sparkling verses to sweeping choruses, aided by the youth chorus co-founded by Flea, à la Passion Pit’s use of Brooklyn’s PS 22 Chorus for their 2009 debut full-length Manners. All of it add’s up to a catchy, driving song that we’re hoping will serve well to take us from Brooklyn to LA in a few days time.
Check out the video for the song below. Photo above by Drew McFadden.
