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Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk perform Friday in Tampa

 
Lauren Mann is touring behind her April release, Over Land and Sea.
Lauren Mann is touring behind her April release, Over Land and Sea.
Published May 17, 2013

The list of instruments used by Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk is so long it needs to be alphabetized.

There are banjos and bassoons.

Cellos and clarinets.

Glockenspiels and guitars.

Vibraphones, violas and violins.

The array of instrumentation adds a whimsical element to the Calgary band's dreamy folk-pop, which they bring to the Orpheum in Tampa on Friday.

"We love watching people's eyes go from one instrument to the next," said Lauren Mann. "They will hear a sound and then ask us after the show, 'What was that?' We experiment a lot and I think all the instruments take people by surprise."

Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk are touring in support of the album Over Land and Sea, which was produced in Lakeland by Aaron Marsh and released on April 9.

Mann began writing the songs on Over Land and Sea in late 2010, shortly after she jumped from a life of studying international relations at the University of Calgary and working part-time at a thrift store to touring as a full-time musician.

Many of the album's songs were inspired by that experience.

"Somewhere on that weathered road / I found the dreams that I'd been looking for," she sings on the catchy I Lost Myself.

Mann originally expected another song to be the album's first single, but I Lost Myself quickly became the favorite when recording began.

"I'm really glad it did, it's such a fun song," Mann said. "We love playing it live too."