Karen Haglof
One Hand Up is the fourth full length release by guitarist/songwriter Karen Haglof. The album was produced by Haglof and Mario Viele, recorded at Cowboy Technical Services and Excello studios in Brooklyn, primarily mixed by Viele. Three songs were mixed at the Fidelitorium in Kernersville NC by Mitch Easter and mastered by Scott Craggs at Old Colony Mastering in North Scituate, RI. One Hand Up is being released on CD, digital download and via streaming services on June 14.
One Hand Up is a collection of 14 songs that cover widely ranging sonic territory. The writing and production started prior to 2020 and was delayed by the pandemic. Because of a renewed interest in visual art, many of the songs on One Hand Up will be accompanied by visual components: hand-drawn 2D animation, motion graphics and video clips, adding up to a mixed media extravaganza.
Like its predecessors, One Hand Up revolves around Haglof’s hard-hitting yet spry, stripped-down, playing and writing, ably supported by longtime musical ally Mario Viele on guitars and vocals and CP Roth on drums, bass and keyboards. The album is a fully–realized showcase for her masterful fret work, spirited singing, and impossibly catchy riffing, and finds her continuing her development as a complete creative artist in her own right – after years performing primarily as a supporting musician.
“Slinky 66” is a COVID-19-era track that started with a drum loop; the accent riff provided by Jonathan Kane. 808/synth loops were added, and Mitch Easter provided the MOOG lines for an overall trippy vibe. In “Club 2121,” one of her favored jazzy Gmaj7- based chord progressions finds its rightful place in a space-age dancehall rave. “D.H.Y.B.” is the thunderous, wryly proggy forever home of a lick she’s been nursing for decades. “VOG (Existential Precariosity)” is Haglof’s fantasy of what collaboration between Led Zeppelin and Peter, Paul and Mary might sound like. And so it goes.
One Hand Up is the latest chapter in a musical career that was interrupted for decades. During her hiatus, Haglof earned a medical degree and joined the hematology / oncology department of New York University Hospital from which she retired in May 2023.
Prior to her career in medicine, Karen had been an active participant in the much-vaunted Minneapolis indie rock scene that gave the world the Replacements, Soul Asylum and Bob Mould’s Husker Du among many others. Eventually, she left the MidWest for Manhattan and joined renowned avant-garde composer Rhys Chatham’s Ensemble, one of the city’s seminal guitar army / orchestras, continuing on to join the Band of Susans with other veterans of Chatham’s crew. After serving as chef during the early years of East Village institution the Great Jones Café (and creating its legendary brunch menu), she entered medical school and didn’t seriously pick up a guitar for decades.
She returned to making music in 2014, while still actively practicing medicine, with the full length Western Holiday, followed by
Perseverance and Grace, the Palomino Steady Rocking EP, and Tobiano. In an optimistic hope for the end of 2020, New Year’s 2021 saw the release of a single Devastation Completed.
The releases gained praise from outlets like NPR’s All Things Considered, Guitar Girl Magazine, and Popdose among many others.