a-ha announced a new album and film today:

‘True North’ is a filmed live-performance for future streaming release with new music from a-ha.

Set in the awesome landscape of Northern Norway and recorded in the town of Bodø up above the Arctic Circle, the music from the film will be made available as a new album from the group for the first time since ‘Cast in Steel’ (2015).

“We chose this location as a way to showcase some of Norway’s most spectacular nature – where majestic mountains meet the raging sea – far up north, but right at the centre of the dramatic effects of climate-change.”

“We want this film to be a poetic homage to the importance that nature holds in Norwegian culture, and in particular the ocean, which has provided us with a privileged life up here, from the early fishing boom to the troublesome riches extracted from the seabed in the form of oil,” says Magne.

The album and film will be recorded over two days in November 2021, at the Svømmehallen Scene concert hall in Bodø, and planned for release in the autumn of 2022. It will include 12 new a-ha songs, with songwriting contributions from all three members.

a-ha will be joined by the Arctic Philharmonic orchestra on all the songs, and there will be a total of 36 musicians on stage (including a-ha and their backing band).

“The concept of True North was originally inspired by Bruce Springsteen’s Western Stars. Our idea was to create a Norwegian version – a film which is a sort of a travelling letter from a-ha, with the ocean as a backdrop and with brand new music”, Magne tells Avisa Nordland (paywall).

“Long periods in the studio has usually lead to quarreling and frustrations for us. In deciding to create a film and do it as a live performance I think it will be much easier. Initially we planned to do it with an audience, but for logistical reasons it will be a film instead – with only the crew as “audience” and the finished film being the concert experience for our audience”.

“This is a live performance that will be filmed, and the music from that film will then be released as a new a-ha album. If we achieve what we’re hoping for, I think it will appear considerably more spontaneous and fresh than years of studio polishing”, Magne says.

The release of the film and album will be followed by a True North world tour, starting in late 2022 or early 2023.

“This is something that will fit into the aesthetics of a-ha. It’s not coincidental that we’re doing this in Bodø and Northern Norway. The album, film and subsequent world tour will be called True North”, a-ha manager Harald Wiik tells Avisa Nordland (paywall).

“The ways of releasing music has changed in recent years, and physical formats are almost completely gone. That’s why a-ha wants to release the music as a film experience first. We’ll have a crew of 100 people during the recording and aim to have the film available on Netflix or one of the other major streaming services. In addition to the material from the live performance, we’ll use footage from the nature around Bodø”, Harald Wiik says.

“I can’t really imagine a better way of using our music than making an artistic statement that embodies both worries and hope for the future”, Magne tells VG.