Oslo-based LAZY QUEEN have released their brand new EP ‘A Human Reaction’ via Swedish label, Icons Creating Evil Art. Featuring the highly-acclaimed singles ‘Bed/Head’, ‘Alcohol’ and new single ‘Detached, Together’, Lazy Queen’s latest instalment is both an insurmountable emotional maelstrom and the exhausted, tattered calm that follows.

It seems there is no topic too sensitive for the Oslo-based four piece, they delight in weaving bouncy pop melodies around the darkest lyrical sentiments, caught up in a howl of guitars and newly explored electronic elements. With a run time of just over 18 minutes, ‘A Human Reaction’ is packed full of comforting and danceable future favourites from Lazy Queen. 

‘A Human Reaction’ was first pieced together within the confines of Henrik García Søberg’s home studio. Melodies were mapped out from the same desk as the band’s most nuanced yet still edgy lyrics were being scrawled. Like almost every artist in the world in 2020, Lazy Queen were negotiating lockdowns and semi-lockdowns, and it is this combination of pressure and frustration that has led to their most honest and developed work to date. 

“A Human Reaction” Tracklist:

1. Bed/Head
2. Â
3. Alcohol
4. Hūmäń
5. Detached, Together
6. Rėāçtįöń
7. Leech
8. Forget It (Outro)

Listen on all major streaming services here

Produced by Morten Øby at Taakenheimen Lydriket in Oslo, Lazy Queen band members would head into the studio in fragmented slots, unable to exact their vexation in ways they had on previous releases. In spite of this, ‘A Human Reaction’ is an expansive record that integrates itself in the psyche of its listeners, leaving a sense of heart-warming riff-heavy recognition.Vocalist/guitarist  Henrik García Søberg (they/them) explains “As a whole, I would describe the mood of this record as one of isolation, but writing about feeling lonely, it’s not to make other people feel alone or isolated, it’s rather the opposite. There’s always the option of letting yourself sit and get lost in those emotions, but making the choice of saying something, whether that be to write a song about it, picking up a phone to call a friend – you’re making a choice to prove those overwhelming feelings wrong.” 

Persistent in their pursuit of experimentation, ‘A Human Reaction’ kicks off with the vibrant first single ‘Bed/Head’ which opens with a deviation from previous work –  a bubbling electronic intro. “We included a lot of new elements into our sonic palette on these recordings. Rock is very rigid and traditional, the bands that are interesting to us are the ones standing with feet in several genres. Opening the EP with the “Bed/Head” intro we wanted to make it really clear that we don’t really give a fuck about genre rules – but then we kick into a straight, punk thing on ‘Alcohol”, so it’s still very much us”. Tracks like new single ‘Detached Together’ and ‘Leech’ serve as guitar-charged, electro-tinged little glimmers of hope in the face of overwhelming devastation, loss of identity and substance abuse. “You’re trying to make something out of a feeling that feels very hopeless,” Henrik says of their experience. Woven into ‘A Human Reaction’s broad bouncy sweep are interlude tracks that spell out the EP’s title – a deeply personal late addition that was originally only meant for the ears of Lazy Queen’s inner operating circle, distorted and abstracted by electronic musician Brage Sanner (of the Oslo-based band j00). Explaining further, “I knew I wanted to include some transitional parts when we were writing the record”. Henrik continues, ”I was going through a rough patch and nothing made sense. The recording used for those transitions was this thing that was supposed to be only heard by a very few people, but in the end it felt really fitting to put it into the record. It felt like it needed to be there.” 

In summing up ‘A Human Reaction’, Henrik offers a contemplative remark. “At the moment, like a lot of things, it’s hard to get a hold of – it’s hard to see the shape of this and what impact it’ll make.” They continue on, “We were really able to say what we wanted to say, even though I have no idea what that is. And it needed to come out like it has, in this moody, time capsule  but I’m still learning about how I was feeling”.

LAZY QUEEN entered the Norwegian music scene like a breath of fresh air by way of New York, and today, the four-piece led by Henrik García Søberg (they/them) share the video for their cacophonous single ‘Bed/Head‘, which premiered exclusively on CLASH magazine. 

The vibrant, youthful new visuals arrive alongside news of the band’s hotly anticipated EP, “A Human Reaction”, set for release on March 18th 2022 via Icons Creating Evil Art. There will be more music from Lazy Queen this January – keep your eyes peeled. 

Listen to the single on all major streaming platforms here

Powered by their unique amalgamation of guitar structures from Brooklyn’s DIY scene and bouncy slacker pop melodies, the new track (produced by long-time Lazy Queen collaborator Morten Øby at Taakenheimen Lydriket in Oslo) sees the band take a tongue-in-cheek look at the causality between coping mechanisms and isolation, while knowing life continues all the same.

Speaking on the track, Henrik explains “Bed/Head is what your room smells when you haven’t gotten out of bed for a week straight. It’s feeling like your friends have forgotten you exist, and you’ve given them every reason to. It’s forgetting the sound of your own voice. It’s isolation and looking for a way out. It’s also a noisy pop song.”

The latest offering is an explicitly refreshed direction for Lazy Queen, who inked a new longform recording and publishing deal with Swedish label Icons Creating Evil Art in the summer of 2021. Said Henrik of the new union “we already feel right at home with our neighbouring brothers in ICEA. And we’re hoping to make this union of Norway and Sweden a little less “war-like” than the one from some 100 odd years ago, but only slightly”

“Bed/Head” follows the release of “Get Home or Die Trying”. Released through Eget Selskap and Pick & Mix labels, the darkly beautiful EP served as a crucial catharsis for the band processing personal trauma, allowing them to reassess, grow and move forward. Carefully considered singles “Bid Geal”, “Gutted”, “Throwaway” and “A Place (To Bury Strangers)” received widespread support and critical acclaim from renowned outlets such as Wonderland Magazine, Under The Radar, NYLON, Red Bull Music, Earmilk, Indietronica, Impose Magazine,  Medium and more. 

Along with extensive streaming and radio support they also played an incendiary set during the US festival #iVoted, where they as the only Norwegian booking shared the billing with artists such as Billie Eilish, Fantastic Negrito and Måneskin. 

With an increasingly vibrant Norwegian Indie Rock scene on the rise, Lazy Queen – as founded by Colombian-Norwegian Henrik García Søberg (they/them) – have made their mark with a sound inspired by the rich traditions of the Brooklyn DIY scene that birthed the band, ambitious and effervescent releases, coupled with their unique ability to convey personal and relatable experiences through García Søberg’s lyrics. 

The Oslo-based outfit effortlessly blends harmonic and discordant elements together with an instinctive ear for melody into a playful, innovative and vibrant sound, which affixes both context and contrast to lyrics that often explore life’s more maladjusted corners. It’s immediate. It’s urgent. It impatiently demands your attention.
Keep an eye out for even more new music from Lazy Queen soon. 

Lazy Queen was born in Brooklyn, raised in Oslo, and will never die. Join the wreckage.