Single cover

Magne has recorded a new cover version of the song “Troubled Times” as a tribute to Fountains Of Wayne and the recent passing of Adam Schlesinger, who died of COVID-19 complications on 1 April. The song was originally included on the American band’s second album Utopia Parkway in 1999.

Initially posted on Instagram as a preview on 24 April and full version on 8 May, Magne’s version was officially released last Friday, 19 June, along with a music video featuring contributions from fans.

To promote the song, Magne was a guest on the NRK P1 radio show Nitimen on Friday. The audio is available here (starts at 10:34), and a picture from his visit was posted on Instagram.

“Fountains Of Wayne is a band that I used to listen to a lot, and was inspired by as a songwriter. (…) When this happened, I went back and re-listened to many of those songs. “Troubled Times” is a beautiful song that in a way describes the situation that we’ve all found ourselves in”, Magne says in the interview.

In early May, Magne asked fans to help him put together a collage video for the song, which sparked a lot of creative feedback:

“I asked for short video clips, but ended up getting all kinds of stuff. I think we had to go through 500-600 submissions. (…) It was impossible to include all of them, but we’ve tried to put together something that reflects the times that we’ve been through – and still are in the middle of – and I think [the video] has turned out to be both touching and humorous.”

As we know, the a-ha tour was put on hold back in March because of the current pandemic:

“We were at the airport in New Zealand, ready to fly to Tokyo, when everything was shut down. Instead we had to fly back home [to Norway] on short notice, and went into a two-week quarantine. This was supposed to have been a big touring year for a-ha around the world, but that’s all been postponed now”, Magne says.

As for summer exhibitions, Magne will only be doing a couple of them this year, including a solo exhibition at Galleri Nicolines Hus in Kragerø from 18 July – 1 August.

He was also supposed to be this year’s festival artist during the annual Petter Dass literature festival in Alstahaug, Norway. But that festival, along with Magne’s participation, has been postponed to June 2021 instead.