|
MARCH
05 2002
A-HA
DUET WITH ANNELI !
A
German press release for a-ha's forthcoming album "Lifelines"
confirms that Anneli appears on at least one track on the
album. The song is titled "Turn The Lights Down",
and is decribed as a "wonderful duet between Morten
Harket and Anneli Drecker". The album will be out in
April.
THOMAS
OLSEN | THANKS
TO KATJA HERTEL
THE
PRESSRELEASE:
a-ha
on 'Lifelines'
Press release from WEA
"Comebacks
from the eighties, including our own, are the last thing anybody
needs", says a dead serious Magne Furuholmen. "And
nonetheless I'm happy that our comeback was so successful",
he laughs a moment later. "When the idea of recording
'Minor Earth Major Sky’ came up, I hesitated at first.
I just couldn't imagine that I would enjoy being a pop musician
again."
MORTEN HARKET:
Be nice with my bodyguard! Okay?
(Photo: Thomas Olsen)
|
While
Paul Waaktaar-Savoy with his band Savoy and singer Morten
Harket with his solo albums kept on the ball in the music
scene after a-ha split up, the keyboarder of one of the
most successful bands of the eighties had already withdrawn
in 1993 - right after the concerts for the 'Memorial Beach’
album. Instead he dedicated himself almost exclusively to
painting. However the artist never completely let his musical
talent wither away, by composing and releasing several soundtracks
under the pseudonym Timbersound.
The
overwhelming success of the 2000 album, and especially the
triumphant comeback tour for enthusiastic fans, gave the
initially only carefully optimistic trio so much impetus
that even Furuholmen again succumbed to the spell of pop
music. "When we left the stage at the Sporthalle in
Hamburg after our first big performance in over six years,
it was an unbelievable feeling. For the first time since
a-ha existed, we did not just feel like the means to an
end of giving our fans a good time, but finally we had a
great time ourselves," Magne remembers and is still
enthusiastic. "The rest of the tour was euphoria. The
venues were sold out almost every night, the audience loved
us, our old and most of all our new songs. We enjoyed it
immensely. All of a sudden I could hardly wait to finally
start writing genuine pop songs and arrived home more inspired
than I ever had before."
"Another
great thing about our reunion is that as a songwriter I
have discovered new talents and sides of myself. This way
I not only had more self-confidence in writing lyrics, but
also found a new writing partner during our work on 'Lifelines’.
We've been together a long time and still this was the first
time that I collaborated with Morten on composing. It was
great to see that after all of this time we could really
still surprise each other and that our different influences
and preferences, that had developed during the years we
were apart, complemented each other."
The
trio took a new path for recording the album. "We used
to have a problem finding the right producer," recalls
Waaktaar-Savoy, who has lived in Manhattan for years now.
"The people who wanted to work with us were only interested
because they liked what we had done in the past. The ones
that were our favourites and with whom we would have liked
to try out new things thought our old albums were awful."
Magne laughs:"There actually was a time in which it
really wasn't hip to like a-ha and it was even less cool
to work with us. That was a dilemma from which we could
fortunately free ourselves."
On
the other hand, the band had to deal with a new, and very
pleasant, problem. "Lots of the producers that we had
taken under consideration were very keen about the idea
of working with us," adds Paul happily. "Also
there was the one or other sound person that approached
us on their own and whose previous work impressed us. We
sent demos of some songs to these people and got unbelievable
feedback. We heard so many interesting ideas for our material
that at some point we thought: why don't we try them all
out?"
Thus
the album originated not only in New York and Oslo, but
equally in Stockholm and London. It was produced by established
names like the team of Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley
(Madness, Elvis Costello, Morrissey) or Stephen Hague (New
Order, Blur, Pet Shop Boys), as well as up-and-coming new
names like the Swede Naid, whom Magne brought in. He is
considered to be the legitimate successor of William Orbit
as far as his reputation as one of the hottest club producers
goes. Furthermore Paul's personal choice, the Tindersticks
sound engineer Ian Caple, as well as the Cardigans producer
Tore Johansson, were at the board to make the CD what it
is: the perfect and integral synthesis of well-known a-ha
elements with modern sounds and state-of-the-art studio
technique.
It
is obvious when hearing the compositions on 'Lifelines’
in all of their diversity that the newly-found enthusiasm,
together with the band's current mania for work, has yielded
ripe fruits. The energy-loaded "Did Anyone Approach
You" or "You Wanted More", as well as the
extremely catchy and nonetheless sensitive single "Forever
Not Yours" show the group's more danceable side, while
the epic-like arrangement of the title track is new proof
of Morten's absolutely exceptional talent. One can simply
not get down to work with more emotion than this. Whether
it is the majestic "Time And Again", "Afternoon
High", influenced by their idols The Beatles, the intensive
ballad "Solace" with its strings, the powerful
rock track "Cannot Hide" or "Turn The Lights
Down" (Harket's wonderful duet with Anneli Drecker):
in the 21st year of their existence a-ha are at the pinnacle
of their creativity.
"All
three of us did composing and this time we had enough songs
for at least two good records," reports Paul. "Each
of us of course wanted to have his own compositions on the
CD and so we had to discuss it with each other for a long
time and really fought". In the end, nearly 20 tracks
were chosen, many of these in turn with very different producers.
"That was expensive and strenuous, " the blond
musician admits. "But this way we really have created
a very multi-faceted album. We surely will not work like
this again, the procedure was just too stressful. But for
this time around it was precisely the right way. And through
this experience we have been able to learn a lot for our
next album."
"We
really wrestled with each other about the songs and the
various versions," adds Magne. "Sure I'm sad that
a couple of my tracks and ideas did not make their way onto
'Lifelines’, but the other two guys feel the same way.
At the end of the day I'm extremely happy with the album
and realise that we made the right decisions. There just
isn't an easy way to go in this band: it's a constant struggle.
That partially drives us crazy and sometimes leads to tension,
but it always makes us give our best."
'Lifelines’
is the best example of this thesis.
2002-03-04
|
