Posts Tagged ‘morten harket’

Morten on the inspiration behind “Brother”

From the music video

From the music video

The “Brother” music video, which leaked online earlier this week, had its official premiere on VGTV in Norway today.

“Harald Zwart got the idea for the music video immediately after hearing the song for the first time. It’s based on a classic movie by the Swedish comedians Hasse & Tage. We have arranged for a copy of the video to be delivered to the Hasse & Tage museum”, Morten tells VG.

The song itself started with Peter Kvint getting the idea for the melody:

“It was developed from there and to its final version by Peter and myself. The lyrical identity came to me – at the same time – after having just read the biography of Majiid Nawaz, “Radical”, about growing up as a young muslim in England, faced with European, Western culture and politics, and his personal confrontation with fundamental values after years of going down an uncompromising and dangerous road internationally as an islamist. And then choosing an even more dangerous road later on”, Morten says.

“Brother” is about love and respect, as it is shown when recognizing everyone’s right to become who they are. About the right to follow your own conscience. “Brother” is about respecting diversity – and how this is a fundamental value”.

Morten to perform at Stavernfestivalen

Stavernfestivalen

Stavernfestivalen

Morten and his management really seem to be focusing on the Norwegian festival circuit this summer. Another concert was announced today; Morten will be performing at Stavernfestivalen 2014, which is held at Skråvika in Stavern from 10 – 12 July.

Although the exact date hasn’t been posted yet, it has to be July 10th, as Morten is playing other festivals on the 11th and 12th.

Other acts confirmed for Stavernfestivalen include Bob Dylan, Lars Winnerbäck, Kvelertak and Odd Nordstoga.

Some of you might be wondering about all the festivals in our country, but it’s almost like every little village has its own summer festival by now. Morten could have played at a new festival every day of the summer, if he wanted to.

If you want to see Morten live in Norway, but aren’t too keen on attending a festival, the concerts in Langesund (July 19th) or Rennebu (August 30th) could be an alternative. Those two are pure solo concerts, which could mean a more mature audience and a hopefully longer setlist.

Morten to perform in Rennebu

Yet another Norwegian summer concert was announced today. Morten will perform at the third annual Nerskog concert, held at Grovasetra in Rennebu, on 30 August.

Update: Tickets are now available on Billettservice.no.

“Brother” music video

From the music video

From the music video

Although the “Brother” music video hasn’t officially premiered yet, it has now started appearing on YouTube.

Apparently the video was posted prematurely on Vimeo by someone involved in the production, but has since been removed. The same thing happened with the video for “I’m The One”.

The music video was shot in Ernest E. Debs Regional Park in Los Angeles last month, and directed by Harald Zwart. The song itself is a heavily shortened edit version.

‘Brother’ audio samples

Brother

Brother

 
30-second audio samples of all the songs on Morten’s new album Brother are now available on Amazon. Listen to them here.

Update: 90-second samples in better quality are now up on iTunes UK, Ireland etc. If you can’t find them in your local iTunes Store, just change the country.

Morten to perform at Hvalstrandfestivalen

Another festival concert was announced today: Morten will perform at the Hvalstrand Festival 2014 in Asker, which is held on 22-23 August. The exact date for the concert is not yet known. Update: It’s 23 August.

“Morten Harket will finally perform in his home town, and we are very proud that he’s chosen our festival!”, festival manager Fredrik Brodtkorb says.

Other artists confirmed for the festival include Sivert Høyem, Melissa Horn and Alphaville.

For a list of all the 2014 concerts announced so far, click here.

‘Brother’ tracklist and album cover

Album cover

Album cover

Morten’s upcoming album Brother, to be released on April 11th, is now available for pre-order through Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de.

Here’s the tracklist:
1. Brother
2. Do You Remember Me?
3. Safe with Me
4. Whispering Heart
5. Heaven Cast
6. There Is A Place
7. Oh What A Night
8. End Of The Line
9. Can’t Answer This
10. First Man To The Grave

For some reason “Did I Leave You Behind”, which Morten performed at every Night of the Proms concert, will not be included.

The final album cover doesn’t seem to be ready yet. So for now, the Amazon listings just include a combination of the “Brother” and “There is a Place” single covers.

Update: The cover art is now confirmed to be official, which is pretty shocking, considering how poor it looks. Was there no money left to hire a graphic designer?

Studio 1 concert at NRK

The stage at Studio 1 yesterday, with Morten's Everly Brothers guitar ready. (Picture by Valerie)

The stage at Studio 1 yesterday, with Morten’s Everly Brothers guitar at the front. (Picture by Valerie)

Morten performed seven songs at NRK’s studio 1 in Oslo last night, for an audience of around 200 people. The set included three songs from the new album that we haven’t heard before. They were actually so fresh that the band only heard them for the first time two days ago, Morten told the audience.

Morten was in a great mood, very relaxed and making jokes on stage, while the new songs sounded like something off “Wild Seed” – only better. The vocal performance was excellent. All this according to a fan who attended the show.

The band was the same he used at Spellemannprisen last month, except for a new bassist.

Here’s the set list, as posted on Morten’s Facebook page:

1. Brother
2. Do you remember me
3. Spanish Steps
4. Safe with me
5. Whispering heart
6. A kind of Christmas card
7. There is a place

In addition, “Brother” and “Do You Remember Me” were performed twice, in order to get the best possible shots for TV. The interview segments were apparently done on Sunday. NRK producer Stig Karlsen has posted a photo from the filming on Instagram.

The 30-minute show will air April 9th on NRK2, as part of the third season of the concert series Studio 1. This will coincide nicely with the album release, which is now confirmed to be April 11th.

Update: A photo gallery from the concert has now been posted on Studio 1’s Facebook page. Judging from the photos the new bassist seems to be Lars Danielsson from Denmark, who plays together with Per Lindvall in the band StudioTan and various other projects.

Morten to perform at Odderøya Live Festival

Festival logo

Festival logo

Morten will perform at the Odderøya Live Festival in Kristiansand, Norway on 11 July. This will be Morten’s first solo concert in Kristiansand since 1996.

The ticket sale starts tomorrow through billettservice.no.

For an overview of all the 2014 concerts announced so far, take a look here.

More radio promotion

Morten in the studio at NRK P1's Nitimen (Picture from Facebook)

Morten in the studio at NRK P1’s Nitimen
(Picture from Facebook)

Morten did another round of radio promotion today, which included P4s Radiofrokost, NRK P1’s Nitimen and Radio 102.

Here are some translated quotes:

“We have just delivered the finished album. Beyond this point you can’t change anything, you’re handing it over to others, so there’s been a lot to take care of in the final stages.”

“During the songwriting, Peter Kvint and I have worked on the music, while Ole Sverre Olsen and I have written the lyrics. But there are also some exceptions. One of the songs on the album has been written by Ole Sverre on his own, but primarily he’s worked on the lyrics. Peter Kvint is the main producer, while I have co-produced.”

“This album has much of the same spirit as Wild Seed. I’m thinking Brother is a natural continuation. There are similarities in the sound.”

“Per Lindvall, who is a fantastic drummer and whom I’ve worked with in the past, including in a-ha, he’s playing the drums on this album. I’ve used him quite a bit previously, but now he’s brought along some of the guys he usually plays with. I’m going to Stockholm in a few days, to start rehearsing with these guys. It will be very exciting, as they are top-notch musicians.”

“We’re not sure when [the music video] will be released. Harald Zwart has got a fair amount of post-production to do, so you won’t just see my nose above water for five minutes. There’s a lot of decision-making around the material that’s been shot, which partly decides when the album is coming out. We’ve been aiming for album release in late March, but with the ongoing post-production on the music video, I think we’re looking at early April instead.”

In addition, nine brand new promotional photos from the recent Mexico photo shoot have been posted on mlk.com. They were taken between 30 January – 1 February.

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