NOLA

Behind NOLA is the Malmö-based songwriter and singer Johanna Karlson. Originally from Lund, she moved south to leave the suffocating small-town feel, and to explore the wider cultural scene of Malmö.

It’s not unusual for time to escape between creative output, and despite having been conceived at very different phases of NOLA’s life and music creation, “Someone New” still accords with her previous discography through an underpinning emphasis on lyrical content, delivered through a voice that seems an old soul, mature beyond her years. Isolated words and phrases that evoke nostalgia led to scribbled lines in a notebook or diary, sparking tingles of an ensuing song from within. Sometimes poetic and metaphorical, and other times simple and straightforward, her careful, concise expression evokes nostalgic melancholy, but more so becomes a vessel of understanding to navigate the change in life. “Someone New” is more wholesome, warm and fuzzy, a reflection on NOLA stopping trying so hard to be something and rather finding her way back to the Americana she has always loved. A chapter closing on the pain of her youth, the ep release nurtures the subtle, growing glow of hope as she traverses a new, unwritten and unspoiled phase where she can finally be someone new - herself.