Archive for the ‘Paul’ Category

Paul appears on Hågen Rørmark album

Album cover

Album cover

Paul has contributed to Hågen Rørmark’s latest album Alt Eller Ingenting, on which he plays drums on the track “Ensom Leter”.

The album was actually released in September 2012, but I didn’t find out about it until now.

Alt Eller Ingenting is Rørmark’s first album in Norwegian, following Mondo Cane (1995) and Signs & Songs (2008). The 11-track album can be purchased at hogen.bandcamp.com.

Rørmark is known to be a good friend of Paul and played guitar with Savoy in Oslo and London in 2008. He also played harmonica on the Savoy song “Is My Confidence Reeling?” in 2004 and appeared on stage with Weathervane in 2011.

In addition he co-wrote the song “Undecided” for Morten Harket in 2012, together with Tor Einar Krogtoft-Jensen and Christian Engebretsen. Krogtoft-Jensen also plays drums on Alt Eller Ingenting and has co-produced the album together with Rørmark.

Linnea’s album: 3 songs by Paul

Linnea Dale’s upcoming second solo album is now scheduled for release in May, according to Aftenposten. It will include 3 songs written by Paul.

Last night, Linnea took part in the first Eurovision semi-final with the song High Hopes (not written by Paul), which got her qualified for next week’s final in Oslo Spektrum.

Update (14/3): The album release has been moved forward to April 25th, according to a Warner Music press release. The 11-track album is called Good Goodbyes and has been produced by Kim Edward Bergseth and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy.

Waaktaar: “Manmade Lake”

Cover

Cover image

Paul’s new song is called “Manmade Lake” and premiered on a-ha.com this afternoon. The song, which was originally recorded by a-ha in a different version during the Foot Of The Mountain sessions in 2008-09, is released as Waaktaar and marks the first time Paul releases something under his own name outside of Savoy.

“Manmade Lake” features a classic Waaktaar melody and production, similar to some of the material on the Savoy album (2004), with Paul on vocals. a-ha.com doesn’t have any more info about the song, but it sounds like Frode Unneland on the drums. The lyrics continue the theme of Paul’s fascination with astronomy and spaceflight. (Update: Frode tells Japanese site Bottomless Pit that he thinks Paul plays the drums himself on “Manmade Lake”.)

Listen to the song and read the lyrics on a-ha.com and Soundcloud!

Paul also has a new official page on Facebook.

New music from Paul

Finally new music from Paul

Finally new music from Paul

a-ha.com has just announced that Paul will be sharing a new track on Saturday:

“Paul Waaktaar-Savoy is about to break the silence: he will be sharing a new track via http://www.a-ha.com on Saturday 8 February.

Join us here on Facebook and on a-ha.com on 8 February at 10:00am EST for this long-anticipated world premiere!”

Has he teamed up with Jimmy Gnecco again? Is it a new Savoy song? Something he’s produced for someone else? Or the first taste of a brand new solo project? I guess we’ll find out on Saturday…

Paul works with Linnea Dale on new album

Linnea Dale (Photo: Warner Music)

Linnea Dale
(Photo: Warner Music)

Sunnmørsposten reports that Paul is among the producers on Linnea Dale‘s second solo album, set to be released later this year.

Linnea Dale was one of the finalists on the fifth season of Norwegian Idol in 2007, where she was mentored by Morten and performed “Velvet” in one particular a-ha themed episode. In 2009 she was a guest-vocalist on the Donkeyboy album Caught in a Life, which included the hit singles “Ambitions” and “Sometimes”. Together with Donkeyboy she toured the UK and Norway with a-ha on the Foot of the Mountain tour.

Her first solo album Lemoyne Street was released in 2012, which included the single “Children of the Sun”. This was followed by “A Room in a City” in March 2013; the first single from the upcoming second album – which was going to be released last fall, but is now coming out in 2014.

“I’m aiming for a more electronic sound. At least elements of it, unlike Lemoyne Street which was a more acoustic, live-based album”, Linnea told 730.no last year.

Linnea has been in New York several times over the last couple of years, and is listed in the credits of Paul’s studio engineer Eliot Leigh.

“There’s a female singer that has recorded a lot of Paul’s songs, that may be released”, a-ha manager Harald Wiik told fans in September 2012, possibly referring to Linnea.

Before the album is released she’ll be taking part in the Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest finals in Oslo in March with the song “High Hopes”, which is why she’s in the news today.

Update (Jan. 29th): a-ha.com posted an update on this, with some info from Paul:

“Linnea and I wrote and recorded some songs together this last fall. A truly enjoyable and new experience for me. I’m really glad to hear that the album is coming out now. When it does; do check out a song called “With eyes closed”… I like it a lot!”

Paul joins Spark Management

Still busy in the studio

Still busy in New York

Paul is now represented by New York-based management company Spark Management, which was founded earlier this year to “develop the careers of exceptional artists, songwriters, producers and mix engineers”.

The company’s roster of clients also includes Mark Saunders (who co-produced a-ha’s Foot of the Mountain album) and Dan Romer (who did the music for Beasts of The Southern Wild).

Paul is described as “an active songwriter and producer for other major label artists” on the company’s website.

Spark Management founder Ollie Hammett, who previously worked for Elton John’s Rocket Music Management, said in an interview with sonicscoop.com last year:

“I think we’re in a unique position to help develop the careers of producers, in both traditional ways i.e. producing records for artists as well as new ways, too, through opportunities in digital, interactive, film, television and theater. It’s an exciting time for music producers and there are many opportunities to rewrite the rule book.”

Although Paul has reportedly been writing and producing for other artists since January 2011, nothing has been officially released so far (that we know of). These projects all seem to be shrouded in mystery for the time being.

 
Update, July 16th: A Norwegian fan met Paul in Bergen on Friday, July 12th. When asked if there would be a new Savoy album, Paul said that “various things are gonna come up soon”. More info on the WOTM Forum.

a-ha meet with King Harald

a-ha outside the Royal Palace in Oslo, June 10th

a-ha outside the Royal Palace in Oslo, June 10th

a-ha arrived at the Royal Palace in Oslo earlier today, where they had been granted an audience with King Harald. This is taking place in connection with the band members being appointed Knights First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav last year.

Picture from nrk.no

Picture from nrk.no

“It’s an honor to get recognized on an official level for the work we’ve done together. We accept it with gratitude and humility”, Magne told the press.

One reporter asked what they expected to talk about with King Harald.

“I reckon he’s a professional in that area, so he’ll lead the conversation”, Magne said with a laugh.

“We’re not coming here with lots to tell. Instead, we’ll listen to what the King has to say”, Morten added.

Another reporter asked how it is to come together as a-ha now, to receive this honour.

“It’s becoming increasingly harder to gather the three of us together, so we’re grateful to His Majesty for this opportunity”, Magne said.

Watch video clips of a-ha arriving on nrk.no and aftenposten.no. There is also a large photo on vg.no and a photo set by Stian Andersen on a-ha.com’s Facebook page.

Paul working with “several new artists”

Paul’s studio engineer Eliot Leigh has recently added a new bio page to his website, which includes the following piece of information:

Day to day, Eliot also works closely with A-Ha songwriter and guitarist Paul Waaktaar Savoy on all of his current projects, which include several new artists on major labels.

Exactly who these new artists are, remains to be seen…

From the archives: Paul on the Memorial Beach recording process

Memorial Beach (1993)

Memorial Beach (1993)

2013 marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Memorial Beach, regarded by many fans to be a-ha’s perhaps best album.

Recorded with producer David Z at Paisley Park near Minneapolis, the album was a continuation of the organic sound on East Of The Sun, but more guitar-based and largely recorded live.

I recently re-read an interview with Paul from Norwegian music paper Puls in June 1993, which I thought I’d share with my readers by translating it. I don’t think it has been posted online before. In the interview, Paul talks about the recording sessions at Paisley Park, the challenging mixing process in New York and his songwriting in general.

“Memorial Beach is full of high-tech, but the recording itself went by very quickly. Never more than two takes, David Z wouldn’t allow more than that. So we had to rehearse a lot in advance, and I think this had a very positive impact on the final result. ‘Let’s knock his socks off!’, Paul says in the Puls interview.

Read the whole translated interview here: The new a-ha is born

Paul and Lauren contribute to Infuze EP

Eliot Leigh, who works as an engineer in Paul’s studio in SoHo, NY, has his own dubstep project called Infuze. Last November he released his debut EP called Far Away on Smog Records. In a recent interview with house music website icangiveyouhouse.com Leigh reveals that the vocal melody and lyrics of the title track were written by Paul and Lauren:

The title track of the EP features your own vocals. Was this the first time you’ve sang on one of your own songs? Where’d you get the pipes?

I work really closely in my day job as an engineer with a guy named Paul Waaktaar Savoy. He’s the songwriter/guitarist of the Norwegian band A-Ha. He wrote “Take On Me”, one of the biggest songs of all time. I played him the instrumental of Far Away and he suggested he and his wife Lauren have a go at writing a vocal. He’s got an unbelievable knack for melody and she for lyrics, and I really liked what they came up with, so I went home and demoed it with my own voice with the intention of finding another singer. So many people told me they liked the sound of my vocals that I decided to keep them! To be honest, I sung pretty seriously when I was kid in choirs and stuff, but I hadn’t used my voice in many, many years before this.

Here you can have a listen to the song:

The full 5-track EP, which also includes a radio edit of the same song, is available on iTunes, Beatport and Amazon.

No word yet on Paul’s own projects, but Leigh reportedly came over to Norway to do some work in Paul’s studio in Oslo a few weeks ago…

Powered by WordPress