About the album
It's been 10 years since my previous "non-classic" solo-album ("Velvet Horn"). Back then it was important to me that all the music could easily be
recreated live with a small band. This time I have used whatever arrangement size I found
necessary, from the small band format of "April Groove" (track 2) and "Slobodan" (track 9)
to the "more-is-more" arrangement of "Jack Of All Trades" (track 5). This was possible to do thanks to generous contributions from many music friends. Special thanks to Espen Huldt-Nystrøm who wrote
a fantastic sax arrangement for "Cooler" (track 3). Also a big hug to my daughters Ingrid and Hilde whose background vocals really widen the sound of this album.
Being a musical child of the seventies and eighties, it is hard to forget the thrills of funk. So I called bass player Peter Haltorp to make sure I got some funky slap-hand on tape (listen to "Trimmer" and "Top", track 1 and 4).
I also soon learnt that Peter had lyrical sides, and I am honoured to include his fantastic composition "Flying Colors" (track 7). This song features a multi-tone bass track that
Peter recorded in one single take! Wow!
We also needed a drummer to match Peter's bass playing, and we sure got one! Håvard turned out to be just perfect for the job, and not only for the funky stuff.
All the songs on the album are original compositions either by myself or by one of the musicians (Peter Haltorp, Oscar Jansen, Espen Larsen).
As noted above, different approaches has been taken with respect to building the sound of each track. At one extreme you have "Jack Of All Trades" (track 5) with a huge number of overdubs, while Slobodan (track 9)
is "live in studio" (all from the original take). Huge thanks to Espen Larsen for letting me record his two marvellous compositions "Maria" and "Slobodan The Mechanic" (track 8 and 9). I also had the pleasure of including Oscar's
beautiful song "April Soon" (track 6) on the album. Wonderful piano playing by Oscar, as always. The song "April Groove" (track 2) was co-written by Oscar and myself during a rehearsal. I don't
remember which year it was, but it must have been in April! Speaking of compositions; they don't have to be new to be original. The song "Nine Lives" (track 10) was written some time in the eigthies,
hence the title.
The album has been rather slow in the making, it's been 3.5 years from the first takes to the release. This is all my fault (failing to keep up the energy), but the slowness has some good
sides to it. One benefit is the opportunity to "forget" the recordings and listen to them anew after some time. I think this in the end contributes to better arrangements and mixes.
One of the objectives in my work with recording and mixing is to do as many stages of it as I can just for the fun of it, thereby inevitably becoming a "jack of all trades". Whether I will ever be
a master of any of them is hard to say, but it certainly helps to have good music friends! As you can hear, there are certainly "masters of trade" among the musicians!
No rule without exceptions; I never had the nerve to take on the trade of mastering. This is a part of the process where you can really
screw up an otherwise good mix. So I leave this to Steve Kitch who has mastered all my work since I started my studio 13 years ago. Always excellent sound and good service!
All in all it's been a pleasure to work on this album. I hope you all appreciate the affectionate playing of the musicians and the effort put into mixing and mastering.
For me, sitting down and listening to the result makes it all worth while. A warm thanks to all the contributors!
June 2019, Per Sigmond.
