I've taken some time off from the recording process, to work with my friend Edith Fabritius Tvede who provoded vocals on both 'Anyway' and 'The Dual Resonance Model'.
Edith is not really a musician, but a talented filmmaker, and this weekend I served as runner as she shot the final scenes for her forthcoming film 'Out of Season'.

Filming at Zentropa 1

The filming was done in a large studio at Zentropa, the base of Lars von Trier, and featured a 6 by 6 metres green screen.
I can't reveal the plot, but it will premiere soon.

Filming at Zentropa 2

As the night fell the other evening, we had a very special guest. A stork decided that our rooftop was a cosy place...

A welcome guest

Work in progress... and it's progressing well. I've written all the lyrics for the album now, which is always the last thing I do.
I know a lot of musicians who thinks my way of working is odd. I guess they write the lyrics as they strum along at the very first stages of a song. That's not my way. I have tried it, but it has only worked for me on rare occations (The Noise from Constructions). My way is to do an entire instrumental production, and then move on to writing lyrics. It may be odd, but it works for me. And now that stage is done too.
I'm not through recording though...

Anders by the mic screen

Long time collaborator Anders Brandt came by the provisional studio the other day to provide vocals for the album. He also brought his black Les Paul guitar and did a very beautiful solo for the closing track.

Work is progressing well...

Stina Madelaire who provided vocals on much of 'Anyway' (the songs 'Garden of Exile', 'Euphoria', 'Blue Sky Cafe' and 'Where are you now?' to be precise), is almost ready with her debut album.
You can check it out over at her blog: Yogawise.dk

Quite a large portion of the life of the contemporary musician has nothing to do with music what so ever. It is plain office work as music has to be registered to various organizations before it can be played to anyone. I guess in the time of major record labels this was a way of protecting the working composers and their bodies of work. However, as the music business has changed and more and more artists - including yours truly - have decided to act as labels themselves, these organizations seems to work as obstructions for the ones they were meant to protect. Well, enough said about the absurdity of the music business, and on to some more desk work; sales statistics! All 2011 sales have now been accounted for. A few details:
- I sell more music in Germany than in Denmark.
- Cloudberries is my best selling track.
- The folks down under seems to have discovered my music. Thank you, Australian listeners. I salute you!

Minella in the studio

Apart from the strictly paper aspect of being a musician, I have been recording more vocals for the forthcoming album. This time the ever so beautiful Minella Ketscher was in front of the microphone. Minella has a singing style that instantly makes me think of singers from the sixties. A beautiful voice with a lot of expression.

Snowdrops at the covershoot

When I walk outside, I have discovered that a lot of snowdrops and eranthis have appeared. A beautiful and sure sign that spring will soon be here.
It also reminded me, that it is already a year since I shot the cover for the yet to come album, currently titled 'From Dirt Flowers Grow'. But both title and cover might change, as nothing is finalized yet...

Lately I've been busy doing a lot of different things. Most of them having nothing to do with music. They had to be done never the less.
However, I have found time to do some work in the studio. Most recently the recording of two songs with Tanja Hollerup on vocals.

Tanja in the studio

Tanja first worked for me when I was doing a concert six months ago, and I had only little idea of how it would be to work with in the studio environment. Tanja, however, is a very able singer and we recorded everything using only a minimum amount of takes.
One of the songs we recorded is called Brocken Spectre, after an optical phenomena which in earlier days made people believe in witches.
I went to the Brocken mountain in october last year, but I didn't catch a glimpse of the spectre, as it was way too foggy...

At the Brocken Bahnhof, Harz mountains

2012 is barely a week old, and already a lot of noise has been recorded. This week has been about guitar solos. I have always been fond of guitar solos, but so far they haven't found way onto my albums. Until now that is.
David A. Jeppesen and Anders Brandt who both played in my live band back in august, has visited my studio and recorded solos to be featured on my forthcoming album currently titled 'From dirt flowers grow'. The solos are noisy and dirty. Just like I dig them...

David doing guitar solos

So... 2011 came and went...

A little bit of flame and sparks

If everything goes as planned, I'll have a new album out in 2012.
And I'm selling my analogue equipment. Maybe I'll have a fully digital studio this year...