LAY LOW is the alter ego of singer-songwriter Lovisa Elisabet Sigrunardottir, who was born in London in 1982 to an Icelandic mother and Sri Lankan father, with the family relocating to Reykjavik when she was a small child. She took piano lessons at a young age and started playing bass and guitar in her teens, performing with several local acts before joining the experimental rock band Benny Crespo's Gang adding keyboards, synthesizers.... and her voice.... to her musical armory.
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LAY LOW evolved in early 2006, after Lovisa was contacted by a local label showing an interest in a raw demo she had placed on MySpace that combined elements of blues, folk and country and twisted them into a fascinating new shape. Just a few short months after being discovered she had recorded and released her debut album, Please Don't Hate Me, which topped the Icelandic chart and became the bestselling original album in the country that year, getting nominated for four Icelandic Music Awards (winning three) in the process. Demonstrating a musical maturity beyond her years, Please Don't Hate Me was an impressive debut, with Lovisa's intoxicating new take on classic Americana sounds attracting much praise and her authentic and compelling live performances standing up well to the recorded versions of her songs.
Following the speedy success of her debut, Lovisa refused to rest on her laurels, recording covers of two well-known Icelandic songs for a local hit movie (Bruthguminn, directed by Baltasar Kormakur) and taking on the role of music director for the Pulitzer Prize play How I Learned to Drive, (written by Paula Vogel), for which she not only wrote the music but also performed it on-stage to sell out crowds and great reviews. The music from the play was released in Iceland in early 2008 and included five original LAY LOW tracks in Icelandic plus eight Dolly Parton covers, all in a distinctive LAY LOW style. The record was an instant hit and Lovisa again found herself nominated for a prize, this time for an Icelandic Theatre Award. Despite several other musical luminaries being nominated (including Nick Cave and Warren Ellis), LAY LOW won the award.
Recorded and produced by Liam Watson (White Stripes, Pete Molinari, Holly Golightly), Farewell Good Night's Sleep is a superlative sophomore album that reinvents the country music wheel for a modern audience. Recorded between July and September 2008, it features high calibre musicians such as Carwyn Ellis, Ed Turner, Rupert Brown, Matt Radford, Jason Wilson and BJ Cole. Liam Watson himself comments that "working with Lovisa was a great experience. I really enjoyed working with a girl of Lovisa's age that enjoys good country music, the kind that I like - sincere, melodic and lush. Lovisa has a very special and unique voice and is coming up with the kind of material I don't hear from anyone else. Iceland's top female country artist will surely become a favourite the world over." Now LAY LOW is writing music and preparing for her 3rd LP album. This time she will only have songs in icelandic, songs written to poems by icelandic women from the 19th century to the 21th century. Most recent plans are to have the new album ready for release in the fall of 2011.
