Swedish main label Hybris wrote:

Azure Blue is the new solo project from Tobias Isaksson. We've known Tobias for years as a talented songwriter and a colorful profile on the Swedish pop scene. His old bands Irene and Laurel Music attracted worldwide recognition, documented from The Allmusic Guide to the blogosphere, but this is a brand new start. With Azure Blue, Tobias has surpassed all his previous work. The whole process has been like watching a baby dolphin grow up.

The name is a paraphrase of Dennis Wilson's "Pacific Ocean Blue". Tobias says: "It's Wilson's honest look with the epic beard and the ocean blue mood itself that has inspired me. Along with other male storytellers like Earnest Hemingway, Klas Östergren and Grant McLennan. I wanted to make a mature AOR record but ended up flirting with new wave and new romantic as well."

With the producer and instrumentalist Midnight Ruler Tobias has created pure pop gold. A New Gold Dream 2010/2011/2012. Timeless yet modern. It's honest, pure and wise like Paul Auster's The Red Notebook. It makes us laugh and cry and pick up a novel.

Winner of the Swedish Independent Grammy Awards - Manifest 2012. Best Pop - Azure Blue. (Previous winners in this category: The Knife, Jens Lekman, The Embassy, The Honeydrips, El Perro Del Mar etc.)

Media quotes:

"Nostalgia fuelled pop harking back to the heyday of Factory Records, Isaksson’s material is deeply romantic with a deft production slight of hand that can single-handedly break your heart and indeed heal it in one fell swoop." -The Line Of Best Fit (UK)

“The best electro-pop record in recent memory.” Blurt Magazine (USA) 9/10 review

"A hugely romantic record, bathed in feelings of regret" -The Fader (USA)

"his emotional reflections reveal a certain amount of mature distance." -Pop Matters (USA)

"a quiet, subdued combination of New Wave and Pop, not unlike Pet Shop Boys or Erasure" -The Big Takeover (USA)

“A downcast gentle beauty.” -Critical Mob (USA)

"Take a (g)listen to Isaksson’s handiwork" -Popservations (USA)

"definitely worth your time – having received very good reviews here in Sweden" -Jajaja/The Line Of Best Fit (UK)

“Rule of Thirds is brilliant. It’s the kind of electropop album that most often strive to make, but very often fail by trying to be too clever.” -A Layer of Chips (UK)

"Azure Blue took the top spot with a warm dreamy take on the original " -Kick Kick Snare (USA)

“Track after track of gorgeous, melodious songs … a huge success worthy of many hours of your time.” -Austin Town Hall (USA)

“The Catcher In The Rye is the first of three standout should-be singles which, for our kroner, illuminate the album with its pearliest dew drops (drops) of palpable pop promise.” -In Love With These Times, In Spite Of These Times (UK)

“Think a more optimistic Radio Dept. and you’re somewhere in the right direction.” -Street Lights As Fairgrounds (UK)

"Beautiful, humble and at times captivating debut." El Pais (Spain) 4/5 review

"Rule of Thirds is not just a fantastic effort with Scandinavian indiepop's traditional echo of the beginning of Creation, Factory, Les Disques du Crépuscule and other early synthpop nostalgia, but a lucid exegesis and a contemporary Pacific Ocean Blue" -No Todo (Spain)

"A dreamy and crystalline ocean with gentle and warm tides" -Chaotisch und Charmant (Brazil)

"marked by wise melancholy, intoxicating 80's colors and night dancing with your eyes half open" -Indie Hearts (Argentina)

Sweden reviews:

8/10 Sonic
4/5 Dagens Nyheter
4/5 Göteborgs-Posten
4/6 Nöjesguiden
4/6 Gaffa
4/5 Ikon
4/5 Joyzine
4/5 Borås Tidning
4/5 Nya Wermlands Tidning
4/5 Tram 7