Savoy’s 2004 album reissued as Whalebone

New cover and new title

Today Paul announced that Savoy’s self-titled 2004 album has been reissued digitally, featuring a new cover image and even a new title; Whalebone, named after the album’s lead single.

Savoy’s fifth album was originally released in August 2004 and included the radio singles “Whalebone” and “Empty of Feeling”. It peaked at #7 on the Norwegian album chart.

The new cover image is taken from Jason Brandenberg’s short film for the closing track “Isotope”, and was used inside the fold-out digipak edition (CD+DVD) of the album when it was first released.

This means that all seven Savoy studio albums are now available on streaming. And while some previous Savoy reissues were shortened by several minutes, the new reissues of Reasons To Stay Indoors and Savoy both seem to retain the same length as before.

Living With Ourselves art vinyl now shipping

Art by Magne on both the cover and the record itself

Fans in many countries are now starting to receive the Living With Ourselves Limited Edition Art Vinyl, which was sold exclusively through Magne’s official website on November 1st. Only 200 copies were available and sold out instantly.

The album comes in a gatefold sleeve, numbered and signed by Magne. He has also personally mixed the colours of each individual vinyl record. Additionally, the package includes a unique monotype print (12×12 cm, signed and numbered on the back) from the Past Perfect Future Tense period, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of that album.

The album includes all the 11 tracks listed on a-ha.com recently, but has a different running order. It opens with “Look how far we haven’t come” and ends with a cover version of TOTO’s “Hold the line”.

Living With Ourselves is released on Magne’s own label Passion Fruit Records, while the record itself was pressed at T-Time Vinyl Plant in Stavanger, Norway, where Magne and producer Bjarne Stensli are among the co-owners.

A regular edition of the album on vinyl or CD has not been announced so far.

Reasons To Stay Indoors reissued digitally

The new cover

Paul has announced that a remastered version of Savoy’s fourth album Reasons To Stay Indoors (2001) is now available on all streaming platforms.

The reissued album also comes with an alternate cover photo, taken by Sebastian Schmidt, and updated band logo. The same photo was previously used for the promo single of “Half Of The Time”, though it was a mirrored version.

Reasons To Stay Indoors peaked at #8 on the Norwegian album chart back in 2001 and included the singles “If You Won’t Come To The Party”, “Half Of The Time” and “Five Million Years”.

No word yet if a Hi-res version of the album will also be available for purchase, like the reissue of Mary is Coming (96 kHz/24 Bit) last year, or if a vinyl or CD reissue could be possible.

More music and podcast episodes from Magne

Cover image

The second track from Magne’s upcoming solo album Living With Ourselves is out now, on all streaming platforms.

Entitled “Look How Far We Haven’t Come”, the song features backing vocals by Tini Flaat.

Also available now is episode 6 – 11 of Magne’s new interview podcast in English, hosted by Ørjan Nilsson. Although originally planned to be released weekly, Magne decided to share the whole series now. He explained on Instagram:

“since my plan of releasing one podcast episode pr song (through some glitch) went south and 5 episodes were released all at once, i will heed my own advice and
‘learn to make better mistakes’ 😂🤷‍♂️
hence, the last 5 episodes of this will be released on the coming friday – unless gremlins in the system also puts this new plan to shame!!”

Magne performs at Porsche car center

Performing “Take On Me”, with artwork by Magne as backdrop, November 7th.
(Screenshot from Instagram video)

Magne performed live at the 5th anniversary of Porsche Center Asker & Bærum in Billingstad on November 7th, for a group of invited guests. He was joined by Martin Halla on vocals and Dan Sunhordvik on guitar.

Magne’s art was also on display in the showroom, including the massive glass sculpture “Sub Sea” and a Porsche Macan decorated with his design.

A selection of pictures have been posted on Instagram by Modus Design, who helped organize the event. The post also includes a video clip of “Take On Me” performed acoustically.

This is not Magne’s first collaboration with his local Porsche center. In 2021 he held an exhibition of 23 large graphic prints inspired by classic Porsche racing cars there. He has also decorated cars before, a Porsche 718 GT4 in 2021 and a BMW i8 in 2016.

Last night’s event is the latest of several mini-concerts Magne has done this autumn. He also performed at a private event in Oslo on 17 september, but with a full band set-up featuring Karl Oluf Wennerberg, Even Ormestad, Erik Ljunggren, Dan Sunhordvik, Tini Flaat and Martin Halla.

Just Loomis photo book available digitally

Book cover

Just Loomis’ photo book “Cry Wolf”, featuring photos taken during the Brazilian leg of a-ha’s 1991 tour of South America, is now for sale digitally through Apple Books. The book is 169 pages long and can be purchased for $12.99.

Update 16 November: The book is now also available to purchase for Amazon Kindle.

Here is a description from the publisher:
“CRY WOLF is a selection of Just Loomis photographs taken of the band A-HA in 1991 at their performance in the ROCK IN RIO and their first tour of Brazil. Beginning in RIO and traveling to towns like Recife, Fortaleza and Aracaju, Just Loomis captures the unique relationship between the band and the people of Brazil. Edited and designed by Nicole Segel this is a cinematic picture book. Just Loomis tells the story of this very special time in the history of the band. 180 pages in Amber and Black and white.”

The book was originally published in connection with Loomis’ a-ha exhibition at the Rockheim museum of popular music in Trondheim, Norway in 2020-21. However, the book was only available to buy in person at Rockheim and only around 50 softcover copies were printed, leading it to sell out within a few days. It has since become a highly sought-after collector’s item.

Many fans were unable to see the photo exhibition, due to Covid restrictions. But now at least the photo book is available for a larger public. Another printed edition is uncertain at this point.

News of the digital book edition was first shared by a-ha-forum.de.

New Magne song and podcast now available

Single cover, artwork by Magne

The first song and title track from Magne’s upcoming fourth solo album Living With Ourselves was released on his birthday, Friday 1 November. The song is available on Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music and other streaming services, with another new song from the album to follow each Friday in the coming weeks.

The song is accompanied by a new podcast in English called “no animals were hurt during the recording of this series”, which features Magne in conversation with Norwegian journalist and author Ørjan Nilsson. There will be one weekly episode for each song on the new album, eleven in total. But the first five episodes already seem to be up. They are available through Acast.com and other platforms such as Spotify.

Ørjan Nilsson has also written a new book about Magne which will be published in Norwegian in 2025. It is based on several interview sessions done in Norwegian over the last couple of years. Nilsson has previously written books about Paul (2017) and Morten (2019), and this new book will therefore complete a sort of “a-ha trilogy”.

On 1 November a special ltd edition art vinyl of Magne’s upcoming solo album “Living With Ourselves” was also made available to order from his official website. Featuring a signed and numbered 12″ gatefold LP, where each vinyl record has been personally colour-mixed by Magne, along with a signed MF original art print. Only 200 copies were up for sale, and sold out within minutes. Hopefully there will also be a regular vinyl and CD release later.

Here is the tracklist of the upcoming album, as shared by a-ha.com:

1. living with ourselves
2. look how far we haven’t come
3. white horses
4. world so strange
5. god is in the details
6. time is on your side
7. giving in to christmas
8. teo’s theme
9. hold the line
10. you won (and then some)
11. one 4 all and all 4 none

Magne details new solo album and podcast

Picture by Carlos Maciá

In a new update posted on a-ha.com, Magne has shared more details about his upcoming solo album “Living With Ourselves”; the recording process, the unconvenient delay due to Covid and the current release strategy.

“i have decided that a staggered release of songs later in the year leading up to christmas and beyond is that way to go, and to record a weekly podcast episode to go along with the release of each song”, Magne writes.

He is also inviting fans to submit questions for the podcast:

“for this podcast i would warmly welcome questions from you all – if you could please submit them to editor@a-ha.com before september 20th. ask me whatever. i’ll try to answer questions to the best of my ability..”

He also hints about “a limited physical release to be announced shortly” and plans to “celebrate music with you all in 2025 in some live format or another”.

Visit a-ha.com to read the whole update, which includes new song titles and a series of photos from the recording session in France in June 2023.

Magne performs at Fjord Cadenza

Live at Fjord Cadenza, 31 August
(Screenshot from video by Miyuki Ishihara)

Magne has spent the week in the Ålesund area on the Norwegian west coast, being this year’s festival artist at Fjord Cadenza in the nearby village of Skodje.

Rehearsals started out on Monday at Ocean Sound Recordings on the island of Giske, the same location a-ha used for their 2017 MTV Unplugged performance. He was joined by Martin Halla and Tini Flaat on vocals, Dan Sunhordvik on guitar and the Animato String Quartet.

On Wednesday, 28 August, Magne’s festival exhibition “New Song” opened in Skodje, which included a mini-concert in a tent set up outside the gallery. The festival has posted an extensive photo gallery from the event on Facebook, and an audience member has posted a couple of video clips on Instagram; “Stay On These Roads” and “Take On Me” (the clips have since been made unavailable).

The main event followed on Saturday, 31 August; a festive concert held at Gomerhuset, featuring a set by Magne and his musicians, a solo set by Anneli Drecker, and all backed by The Norwegian Naval Forces Band. According to people who were in the audience, Magne performed two new songs from his upcoming solo album called Living With Ourselves; the title track and “Time Is On Your Side”. The latter song was among the demos Magne posted on Instagram in 2021. The festival website has been referring to Magne’s new solo album as Magnefied, but this week Magne said on Instagram it’s actually called Living With Ourselves.

Here is the setlist, with a few video clips (courtesy of Miyuki Ishihara):

1. Living With Ourselves
2. Time Is On Your Side
3. You Have What It Takes
4. Stay On These Roads
5. Take On Me

“Yesterday’s concert was fantastic, thanks to this team. Let’s do it again!”, Tini Flaat posted next to a backstage photo on Instagram on 1 September.

Fjord Cadenza has also posted a large photo gallery from yesterday’s concert on Facebook.

Performing “Stay On These Roads” on 28 August
(Screenshot from video by Bente Wangsmo)

In an interview with the Ålesund news site AESby.no earlier this week, Magne explained the background for his appearance at the festival:

“I was initially asked to hold an exhibition at the festival, which I agreed to. But then the conductor and artistic director for the festival, Rune Bergmann, contacted me. We have worked together before, both with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and abroad with that supergroup of mine, Apparatjik. He wanted to collaborate on something again and told me more about Fjord Cadenza – that it’s mostly a festival for classical music, but also includes a selection of other artists. I told him that I had a solo album that was supposed to have been finished last year, but that I had been completely knocked out for half a year due to long Covid. Maybe we could have a release concert at the festival?”

In the end, it wouldn’t be a release concert, as his new solo album has been pushed back and won’t be out until closer to Christmas. But Magne still promised a special performance:

“I have selected a few songs from my whole career, from “Take On Me” up until present day, re-arranged them and made new versions. This is the first time I’ll be performing with The Norwegian Naval Forces Band, so that will be something special. On the a-ha songs I won’t be doing the lead vocals, so I have brought along Martin Halla, who won The Voice in the season I was a mentor. Also Tini, who was part of that same season of The Voice and who sings a duet with me on my latest album, will be part of the concert”

In the interview, Magne also talked about how the events of the world in the last few years, like the pandemic and the wars in Ukraine and in Gaza have affected him, both as a human being and as an artist:

“I have become a grandfather and can’t say I’m too optimistic about what the future holds… But I feel I also have my own responsibilities in that regard. In a band situation there are compromises and more carefullness when it comes to personally motivated messages, but when I’m on my own I can speak about what’s important to me, and use my contacts to get the message across. I’m also far more outspoken, more political and less optimistic in my own lyrics than in the lyrics I’ve written for a-ha. At the same time, I still have hope for the future, because there are many good people who are working hard to come up with good solutions”.

Foot Of The Mountain to be reissued on vinyl

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a-ha’s 2009 album Foot Of The Mountain is finally set to be reissued on 180 gram vinyl by Universal on 15 November 2024.

Update 8 November: It seems the release has been pushed back to 6 December 2024. It is now described as a 15th Anniversary Edition on Crystal Clear Vinyl, while a sticker on the cover says “Strictly Limited Edition”. The reissue can be pre-ordered from amazon.co.uk and amazon.de.

The album was first released on 180 gram vinyl in January 2016, but only as a limited edition here in Norway. Reportedly only a few hundred copies were pressed, eventually selling out and making it a sought-after collector’s item.

Although this new 2024 reissue is also described by some retailers as a “limited edition”, hopefully it won’t be quite as limited as the Norwegian pressing. Additionally it’s described as “coloured vinyl”, while the 2016 version was black vinyl in a gatefold sleeve.

Several retailers already has the vinyl up for pre-order, including JPC in Germany and imusic in Norway.

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