Pride & Joy Music is excited to announce the worldwide release of Swedish AOR project Oz Hawe Petersson’s Rendezvous self-titled debut album on March 22nd 2024. Oz Hawe Petersson’s Rendezvous sees the union between OSUKARU guitarist Oz Hawe Petersson and his former Eye (Sweden) keyboard player Mathias Rosén doing what they do best.
Despite the name, it is not a guitar-centric solo album but most definitely a project with both artists in the front seat. The self-titled debut album is an authentic collection of melodic gems and new instant rock classics that not only sounds like but also feels like a timeless record you grew up loving. It was written, performed and produced with every single note in focus, just like they used to. “Rendezvous is not here to try and combine classic rock with any type of modern production” Oz says. “Fact is, there is not a single keyboard sound, guitar amp or pedal on this album that is more recent than 1991. Everything you hear and see was made to create a sense of familiarity and nostalgic warmth – to bring out memories you never really had, yet they feel so real.” Oz and Mathias is backed by an exciting cast of singers and musicians who all made this album a “greatest hits” of the genre. “We are blessed to call all these people our friends. None of them made it a commercial spot for their service but performed with the song in focus, as if it was their own. We couldn’t be happier” Oz says. The album artwork was created by Oz reliving his own personal nostalgia. “I spent a lot of weekends in the countryside with my dad back in the mid. 90’s”, he says. “We would often go on late night drives, either to the city or just to grab a pizza and a movie nearby. We used our time in the car to really bond. He taught me so much about things, music being one of them. Those small but intimate moments really shape you as a person and to me, it just felt like the perfect visual representation of our music. I would say the same goes for Mathias and I as we have had many similar late night drives to and from the studio while working on these songs.” The album was recorded digitally but mixed on to analogue tape by Svein Jensen (Osukaru, Sister Sin, Transport League) at Grand Recordings, Gothenburg and mastered by Sverker Widgren (Nighthawk, Captain Black Beard) at Wing Studios, Stockholm. Leading single “As We Cry” with accompanying music video will drop on February 9th. Full track list, featured singers and guest musicians to be announced in the coming days. For fans of: Strangeways, The Storm, Bad English, Alien, Saraya, Houston, Nestor and the first few albums by Michael Bolton.