Oh Land is danish musician Nanna Øland Fabricius. After her first record was released, she got picked up by Epic and she’s now traveling all over the world writing songs with guys that we all want to write songs with.

I once met Nanna at what I think was one of her first gigs as Oh Land. It was at Stengade30 here in Copenhagen. The place was filled. I don’t think it was filled because of her though, as back then she was still just an upcoming MySpace band known by few. I had never heard of her.

Oh Land was already on stage, when I arrived and at the very first listen I loved what I heard. And the girl. Oh man, the girl. At that time the band consisted only of Nanna, Oh Land herself, two choir girls and a white Macbook. All the girls had matching black dresses so you suppose it would be hard to tell them from each other. But it was so clear that Nanna was the lead. The way she moved and looked and sang. I’m aware that it’s a cliche to say, but she owned that stage. And in such a seemingly casual way.

But of course I had to be a dick about it. Later that evening I caught Nanna in the door and jumped right into it.

Aren’t you the girl from the band? I really liked it. But did you really do it all yourself? Often times it’s just a guy who do all the music and the girl is only there for the singing and looking good.

What was I thinking? I had really liked what I saw and heard, so I think I just had to know if the wonder was complete, if she really was that talented. But why did I ask her in a way that sounded so much like an insult? If she hadn’t done it herself, I would insult her. If she had done it herself it would’ve been an insult to her gender. Nice going, Mikkel.

Luckily she just smiled and said that, Yes, she had made it all herself. She was nice too? Oh come on!

I went home and ripped the few demoes off of MySpace that I could and put them on repeat. This was before her first record Fauna was releaed. I loved them. Preordered the album. Loved it. I’ve been to numerous Oh Land shows since that first one (including the one in Århus with a complete symphony orchestra). And every time I’ve walked away stunned over just how good, how sexy Nanna is.