Zoe and Paul interviewed by NRK in Paul’s Brooklyn studio

“Beautiful Burnout”, the first single from the upcoming Waaktaar & Zoe album World of Trouble was released yesterday, 30 September.

The song can be purchased/streamed on iTunes, Spotify and other services through this link, while the music video can be seen on YouTube. The video was directed by Evan Savitt, with cinematography by Zach Galler.

Update: The single will also be released physically as a limited edition (1000 copies) 7″ white vinyl on 11 November, with the B-side “They To Me And I To Them”. It’s available for pre-order from Drabant Music (worldwide shipping).

“Beautiful Burnout” gets a 5/6 review in the newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad (print edition); “Great vocals by Zoe and just the right amount of Beatles-references from Waaktaar. This makes me want to hear more”, the review says.

“After, I think, the first session, I got the shivers from the very first thing she sang. I thought ‘I don’t really want to have other people singing. I wish we could do something with this'”, Paul said in an interview with Lørdagsrevyen on NRK1 tonight.

There is also a short video clip from an interview with Audun Vinger on the Waaktaar & Zoe Facebook page.

Although the World of Trouble album isn’t out until 24 February next year, the tracklist and 15 minutes of song samples have already been posted on iTunes.

From Lørdagsrevyen, 1 October

The 10-track album will include the songs “They to Me and I to Them” – originally an early a-ha song from 1983/84, “Open Face” – a song from the Cast In Steel recording sessions, and “Winter Wants Me Empty” – a new and more electronic version of the Savoy song “Unsound” from Lackluster Me.

Full tracklist:
1. Beautiful Burnout
2. Tearful Girl
3. World of Trouble
4. Laundromat
5. Mammoth
6. They to Me and I to Them
7. Winter Wants Me Empty
8. Ancient Arches
9. Open Face
10. The Sequoia Has Fallen

Follow Waaktaar & Zoe on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Picture from Drabant Music

The Norwegian record label Drabant Music issued the following press release today:

Pål Waaktaar-Savoy (a-ha) and singer Zoë Aphrodite Gnecco (daughter of Jimmy Gnecco) recently signed a worldwide recording deal with the Norwegian record label Drabant Music.

Pål and Zoe are both living in NYC and they have known each other for years. When this exciting collaboration turned into an album project they decided to simply name it Waaktaar & Zoe.

The album “World Of Trouble” is set to be released on the 24th of February 2017, while the first single “Beautiful Burnout” will be released on September 30th this year. Pre order the single here.

Follow Waaktaar & Zoe on Facebook.

The music video for “Beautiful Burnout” premiered at the international a-ha fan convention in Oslo in April this year. The song features lyrics that Paul has re-used from the early version of “Foot Of The Mountain” that was included on the deluxe version of Cast In Steel.

Waaktaar & Zoe also have a new Twitter account.