I`m
finally back where I was
before a-ha re-formed", says
Morten Harket, who is now
working on an international
solo-comeback.
In one month`s time we`ll
get the next musical sign of
life from the a-ha frontman,
but it`s not his own
material. He has lent his
voice to the song "Gilda`s
Prayer" on the CD "Earth
Affair" by the Icelandic
artist Gulli Briem, known
from the group Mezzoforte.
"Gulli asked me to sing the
song several years ago, and
I liked it. I was still
hesitant, because I wasn`t
sure if it was right for him
that I sang. But he wouldn`t
give up on it, and we
eventually found room for it",
Morten Harket tells
Aftenposten.
Songwriter
He
is preparing himself for an
international follow-up to
the solo-CD "Wild Seed",
which came in 1995. Harket
is constantly working on his
own melodies and lyrics.
"What I`m working on now, is
an internationally aimed
project. What I will be
doing on my own will happen
independently of me being
heavily involved in a-ha in
the future. And now I`m
working on who I will be
doing
this together with. I`m
hunting, I have put out some
feelers – received response,
and a picture is starting to
form", Harket says.
"The basic process is when
you`re writing the songs. It`s
been going on to varying
degrees over time. Now the
wires are being fastened. I`ve
begun recording some very
simple ideas of these songs.
It`s a phase. Then there`s a
new phase where the
collaborative forces are
decided upon. And then there`s
the production period. But
we`re not there yet", Morten
Harket says.
Meeting many
Harket is currently in
Barbados where he`s meeting
artists that he describes as
being "of a caliber to which
I become an ephemera in
comparison".
"Even though my fur is
becoming silver-coloured,
there`s much I can learn
from listening to someone
who`s been on the road much
longer than me. Without it
having to mean that we`ll be
making babies together",
Harket says.
"But it`s artists who have
much more experience than
me, and who represent both a
position and an industry.
Who are in their sixties and
have been going since the
1960s. And who therefore
span across an important
part
of the life-span of this
business", he says.
Interesting time
with a-ha
Harket feels that the second
phase of a-ha has been a
rewarding process.
"At first, it was a bit like
throwing up your dinner. I
was involved in extensive,
heavy projects with
obligations in many
directions. The two others
had some of the same. But
when I heard the demos we
made after the Nobel concert
in 1998, I realized that it
had to be respected", he
says.
More than 20
years
On
2. January 1983, Morten
Harket and Paul
Waaktaar-Savoy went to
London. Magne Furuholmen
spent an extra week [in
Norway] saying goodbye to
his girlfriend. At the hotel,
Morten experienced that a
Norwegian punker with
earrings didn`t just eat the
big marzipan chocolate he`d
been given by his mother,
but the punker also brushed
his teeth with Morten`s
toothbrush afterwards.
In one of London`s finest
hotels, 20 years later, he`s
telling how the punker heard
a-ha`s demo tape – and
thought that it was good,
even though it wasn`t
exactly similar to what he
was doing himself.
"And then he said that 'I
don`t have any ambitions'.
I`ve never forgotten that.
He had already become
harmless, but was still
wearing punker clothes!"
- But you have ambitions?
"Not for myself. I`m not
thinking about my career. I
just want to capture what`s
interesting to me. Looking
at the ceiling here in
London and feeling that it`s
the same thing which is
still driving me. And that`s
based on something simple:
finding a song which can go
under the skin on myself an
others", Morten Harket says.
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