Archive for April, 2015

Lars Horntveth working on new a-ha album

From Lars Horntveth's Instagram

From Lars Horntveth’s Instagram

Norwegian musician and composer Lars Horntveth, known from the bands Jaga Jazzist and The National Bank, has recently been working on string arrangements for the new a-ha album Cast in Steel, it seems.

Horntveth, who is currently based in Los Angeles, posted a picture on Instagram from a recording session for a-ha last week, April 24th:
“Done recording full orchestra in Macedonia from 6-10am via Skype in my garage in LA. Science fiction!”

In addition, he posted a picture of sheet music for a new song written by Paul.

Horntveth is also known for producing two of Susanne Sundfør’s critically acclaimed albums; The Brothel (2010) and The Silicone Veil (2012) – the latter of which included the lead single “White Foxes”.

“I really loved Susanne Sundfør’s “White Foxes””, Paul said in an interview last year.

Update: Per Lindvall and Peter Kvint are also busy working on the new a-ha album. On April 29th they did a recording session at the Atlantis Studio in Stockholm. Per Lindvall posted some info about the session on Facebook here, and Peter Kvint also posted some info here.

“My philosophy is to surround myself with truly talented people who make my work sound better than it actually is. Today with rhythm maestro Per Lindvall and sound guru Simon Nordberg. We recorded drums for a couple of new A-ha songs at Atlantis”, Kvint wrote.

New concert dates

Tour ad

Tour ad

Two new dates on a-ha’s Cast In Steel Tour 2016 were announced this week:

  • 31 March: Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam, Holland
  • 1 April: Le Zenith, Paris, France

This will be the 12th a-ha concert in Paris since 1986, and the 5th a-ha concert in Amsterdam since 1993.

The total number of concerts on next year’s Cast In Steel Tour is now 17, with many additional dates expected to be added.

Tickets for Paris and Amsterdam are available now from gdp.fr and ticketmaster.nl.

Morten appears in new documentary

Raghad Kanawati and Morten

Raghad Kanawati and Morten

Morten appears in a new 14-minute short film called Hemland, which also features the songs “Hunting High and Low” and “Brother”.

The Swedish short film is part of a new series of eight documentaries called Fans.

Hemland (Homeland) tells the story of Raghad Kanawati, a Syrian woman who grew up listening to a-ha’s music in Damascus back in the 80s. She later became a refugee and ended up in Sweden.

In the film, which was shot in Sweden in January this year, she gets to meet Morten for a conversation.

“My goal was to portray a muslim woman who grew up with pop culture and had one foot in the Western world, and a pop star who is more interested in butterflies and carpentry than living the life of a pop star“, director Sara Broos told NTB.

“It was not a meeting between an idol and a fan, they met as people outside of those roles. It was a very emotional and personal meeting. Morten was very touched by Raghad’s story, and that’s why he agreed to take part”, she told nwt.se.

Morten attended the premiere at Filmhuset in Stockholm on April 13th, along with Peter Kvint. A short radio interview with Morten from the premiere can be heard at sverigesradio.se (starts at 7 minutes).

Hemland will air on SVT1 in Sweden on May 3rd. Visit almafilm.se for more info about the film and a few pictures from the Stockholm premiere.

Articles:
Morten Harket stiller i film om syrisk flyktningfan
A-ha-sångaren i film från Sunne

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