Lonely Drifter Karen was born from the union of three people with very different geographical and musical backgrounds (from folk and rock to cabaret, experimental, classical, indie pop & more). Started as a solo project by Viennese-born Tanja Frinta while she was living in Sweden, LDK became a band when Tanja moved to Barcelona and met Italian drummer Giorgio Menossi and Mallorcan keyboard player and arranger Marc Meliá Sobrevias.

Their sparkling debut album Grass Is Singing was released in 2008 to wide acclaim, and drove Lonely Drifter Karen to perform all around Europe. True to their drifter spirit, Tanja and Marc relocated to Brussels shortly after recording Fall Of Spring, their second album, which was released in the spring of 2010.

Lonely Drifter Karen are back in 2012 with "Poles", a resolutely pop album, a new song cycle which shatters many preconceived notions of their music. The colours have morphed: gone is the largely acoustic, piano-led instrumentation. This time, analog electronics, Asiatic arpeggios, sliding bass-synths, sinuous guitar riffs and funky grooves abound, while Tanja Frinta's voice is wilder, more vibrant, and seems to have acquired unsuspected new dimensions.

With these new shades and brushes, the band have painted an alternate version of their own, unmistakable world: dreamy, poetic, and slightly surreal, overflowing with those lush arrangements and irresistibly seductive melodies which have become the band's trademark.

Following the amicable departure of their long-time drummer, the core duet of the group —  Tanja Frinta &  Marc Melià Sobrevias — have enlisted the help of young French guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Clément Marion, and of several percussionists (both of the human and the robotic kind) to launch into sound explorations and create these songs which take the listener on an enticing journey through sound & space.

 Aside from the birth of this formidable new album, 2011 also saw the use of LDK's music in a growing number of films and commercials, as well as the band's first foray into China (with a successful 10-date tour), which made a strong impression on Tanja and Marc, who will certainly be back there soon. Meanwhile, let's pack our bags, don our pressurised suits and go where no one has gone before: an exciting expedition to the outer reaches of LDK's expanded pop universe.

Initial press quotes on "Poles":

A pop album of the very highest calibre. 'Poles' is seamless, every seemingly effortless song a perfect, melodic, atmospheric gem. Tanja Frinta's beautiful, Karen Carpenter-esque voice is the focus. This is a landmark album. The year is still young, but 'Poles' is one 2012’s best. (The Arts Desk, UK)

Notes of wistful, 60s Gallic pop, funky, Luscious Jackson-style grooves, loungey, retro-futurist electronica and, on 'Comet', Nu Shooz-like '80s synth pop. All up, it's irresistible. (Time Out, UK)

We are sincerely in love with the cosmic reveries of this Brussels-based trio, who mix Les Baxter/Esquivel-style space-age pop with the woozy grind of real guitars. Singer Tanja Frinta is quite something to hear — an intergalactic Charlotte Gainsbourg. (The Word, UK)

" the incredibly versatile singing voice of Tanja Frinta can sound serene like Feist or Lyke Li, dark and melancholic like Nancy Sinatra or Lana del Rey or even slightly mad like tUnE-yArDs or Róisín Murphy…(but)  never actually sounds like any of the aforementioned. The level of songwriting is persistently high, echoing the unbounded craftsmanship of Moloko, Beach House and Wir Sind Helden.  Poles is one of the most interesting releases of the first quarter of 2012" (IndieFuzz, NL) 

About LDK's previous albums:

The instrumental palette is rich as ever and Tanja Frinta's vocals immaculate. Magic intact. (Uncut, UK)

Impeccably arranged, grounded in nagging melodies and rendered genuinely moving by Tanja Frinta's beautiful croon (Q, UK)

Entirely unexpected… drawing its divergent sources into a creative plan of no little grandness… sublime  (PopMatters, US)

A marvelously arranged album. An instrumental fantasia watched through a keyhole…  (Les Inrockuptibles, France)

Magical pop music, illuminated by the joyful melancholia of the Viennese vocalist and the originality of the arrangements (Le Monde, France)

A brillant and deeply original work (Magic, France)

Hypnotic and playful (Vogue France)