PREMIERE: Laura Oden Releases New Single “The Best Things In Life”

As we kick off not only another exciting week, but a hopeful year as well – we have teamed up with Anchorage, Alaska based artist for the premiere of her newest single “The Best Things In Life”, perhaps the best soundtrack for a year we hope be somewhat less deadly than 2016.

Oden had this to say about the song and its meaning:

Laura Oden was born in Oklahoma, grew up in New Jersey, went to college in Texas and spent ten years after in Washington, DC, but she didn’t find her home until a 1994 move to Alaska. “Anchorage is where I found my people,” Oden says. “I originally went to Alaska to visit a friend and 6 months later I was moving there. It’s just a place that draws you in.”

Oden fell in love with Alaskan nature in its beauty, brutality and vastness. Over time, she immersed herself in Anchorage’s music community, eventually becoming the Founder and Director of the Anchorage Music Co-op, now in its 4th year. The Music Co-op has received widespread community support from individuals as well as sponsorship from Alaska Public Media, KNBA, KONR, Spenard Jazzfest and The Anchorage Press. Oden has produced 23 Artist Showcases, an Under 21 Open Mic series and a large-scale city-wide creative placemaking project called An Urban Conflux.

In 2013, Oden released her debut full-length Alchemy. The album captured her spiritual and artistic journey with songs about taking responsibility for one’s own experience, living with passion and an open heart, feeling deeply for loved ones and ultimately having faith and believing the “magic” or Alchemy needed will appear when needed.

Oden is now preparing to release her follow-up effort, the 10-song sophomore album Peel Back Another Layer. “This record felt like a natural progression from my first CD Alchemy, which was about learning how to express myself,” says Oden.

The first single and opening track, “The Best Things In Life,” was written as the closing song for a Creative Placemaking event in Anchorage called The Urban Conflux, conceived of and produced by Laura Oden. This was a large-scale experience in which 30 events were planned all over town and the public was invited to join, only to be interrupted mid-event by musicians who lead participants of all 30 events to town square park for a two-hour retelling of the history of Anchorage through original music, spoken word and movement. “The Best Things In Life” was the finale, performed on a cloudless 70 degree day to hundreds of residents and visitors.

Peel Back Another Layer, recorded in Anchorage by Evan Phillips and mixed by Glenn Barratt (Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Teddy Pendergrass), is set for release early January on CD and digital formats. In February, Oden will be touring in support of the release, including a performance in the first Alaska Room at Folk Alliance International.

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