OJ Stensland - Little Wonders (2024)

OJ Stensland, aka Ole Johnny, has a new album set for release on October 18, Little Wonders. Little Wonders is an enticing blend of old timey folk and blues roots, casual approaches to more somber themes, optimistic instruments and OJ’s gritty vocals that grip you like Johnny Cash or Tom Waits songs do.

On his previous album Dark Valley Blues (2022) the songs tended to be in a minor key, while Little Wonders songs are sunnier and more optimistic major key compositions. “Nature Girl” kicks things off with a bluesy jam and “there is a little song that I like to sing / It’s about a girl that I think about still / I was in love with her but she didn’t love me.” The production quality on this makes it a candidate for a movie soundtrack. Of the O Brother Where Art Thou variety.

Banjo sets up “Ramblin'”: “the people are changing and the nation is crazy” and then a gang chorus “we’ll go away now from it all / sit in the trees while the city falls / don’t forget your heart / it’s the only think you need.” The song has a real depth in the music arrangement that leads into heavy train harmonica, a heavy foot stompin’ chorus repetition, and ultimately, there’s optimism. The banjo on “Love and Theft” I know you don’t want me know but I love you anyhow / all the years that came and went / all the money on you I spent.”

The title track takes a bit of an R & B detour: “Little wonders in a coffin and this pain don’t mean nothing / The smoke in the hand and a dream of a band /The mouth which is speaking as a secret is leaking / But who sails his ship when the captain is sick?” Group vocals have a way of lifting any song and adding credibility to the message, and the way they’re added here adds a thoroughness and weight.

“Everything Has to Die” starts out with innocence, a slow paced tambourine and an occasional and eery jaw harp sound, and in the midst of the easygoing whimsy is the more somber: “the only thought that makes some sense is that everything has to die.”

The songs on Little Wonders are oftentimes a processing of breakups, someone who did someone wrong, and observations about the way the world is careening out of control. The musical delivery for these messages is rich, deep, and influenced by old timey rootsy songwriting while being lavish with bluesy significance and group vocal choruses. Take a few moments and enjoy it.

Little Wonders was engineered, mixed, mastered and produced by Ole Jonas Storli at Blind Man Studio in Trondheim, Norway.

Musicians on the album are OJ Stensland on vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo, and harmonica; Ole Jonas Storli on piano, accordion, pump organ, and Hammond B-3; Ask Nørholm on electric guitar, steel guitar, dobro, and vocals; Anders Stensland Olsen on bass and vocals; Håkon Berre on drums, percussion, glockenspiel, and vocals; Anne-Grethe Nyhaug on vocals on “Love and Theft”; Andreas Hamre on double bass on “Everything has to Die”; and Charlotte Lunøe on musical saw on “Everything has to Die.” Cover design for the album was by Sten E. Moe and the cover photo was courtesy of Ole Johnny Stensland.