Here is a selection of quotes from yesterday’s press conference in Berlin:

The band in Berlin

Magne: “We aren’t sure if this album is the beginning of something new, or the end of something. But it encompasses a-ha’s entire history and sums up all the directions we have tried.”

Magne: “We worked by trial and error, but something happened during the process. This is vital! We’re taking back what once belonged to us.”

Morten: “We are never satisfied, but I think this album is really good. This is an album I can listen to. I usually need a distance to albums I have contributed to, but not this time.”

Morten: “The reception we’ve had here in Germany has been fantastic. It feels great.”

Morten: “But the album we have made now is good enough to be our last one.”
Magne: “The album isn’t just good enough. It is more than good enough.”
(After denying that they have any plans about retiring)

Magne: “It wasn’t synthpop back then. It was just something new. Bands like Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Kraftwerk, Soft Cell – they were all a big inspiration for us back then. Their sound influenced the edge in our own sound. And it worked.”

Morten: “As a vocalist, the most important thing for me is that the songs have the right
a-ha-identity, rather than who has written them.”
(When asked why he hasn’t written any of the songs on the album)

Magne: “In order to make a-ha function as it should, Morten has to function.”
Morten: “But I am completely dysfunctional.”
Magne: “Yes, we are aware of that. But we’re trying to make it function anyway.”

More pictures and video clips from the press conference can be found at tikonline.de.
And additional articles has appeared in Dagsavisen, seher.no and in VG’s paper edition.