Released Juni 19, 2009
Foot Of The Mountain (2009)
"Es war an der Zeit, uns ein wenig mehr zu öffnen," sagt a-ha-Sänger Morten Harket über das neue Album der Gruppe, Foot Of The Mountain. Das Album markiert eine Rückkehr zu dem klassischen Popsound, der a-ha zu einer der größten Bands weltweit gemacht hat. Keyboarder Magne Furuholmen erklärt es folgendermaßen: "Es ist ein Album, das die Schlüsselelemente beinhaltet, die die Band zu Anfang definierten: Gesang in den höchsten Höhen, Synthie-Riffs, sehnsüchtige Texte und melodische Melancholie." Gitarrist und Hauptsongschreiber Paul Waaktaar-Savoy fasst es in einfachere Worte: "Ich denke, wir haben dieses mal eine großartige Sammlung von Songs zusammen."
Geschrieben und aufgenommen in verschiedenen großen Städten — von Oslo, wo sich die Band 1982 gründete bis nach New York, wo Paul jetzt lebt — ist Foot Of The Mountain, in Mortens Worten, "hauptsächlich ein synth-basiertes Album." Die zehn neuen Songs erwecken den Widerhall der frühen, kennzeichnenden Hits der Band: "Take On Me", "The Sun Always Shines On TV" und "I’ve Been Losing You".
Paul hat den Hauptteil der neuen Songs geschrieben, fünf sind co-komponiert von Magne, vier hat er allein geschrieben. Er hat auch mit neuen Techniken experimentiert. "Riding The Crest" — von Paul als "elektronischer Blues" beschrieben — wurde von Arcade Fires Verwendung des 12-Takt-Schemas auf ihrem 2007er-Album Neon Bible inspiriert. "Real Meaning" war ein glücklicher Zufall: Eine Idee, die Paul spontan kam, als er von Russland zuhause anrief und von seinem Anrufbeantworter begrüßt wurde. "Ich fing zum Scherz an zu singen und dabei kam dieser Song heraus," lacht er. "Ich meinte aber jedes Wort ernst." Und bei "Start The Simulator" verwendete Paul einen ungewöhnlichen Textstil, der auf den technischen Jargon des Wettlaufs ins All während des Kalten Krieges zurückgreift. "Die Grundidee war," sagt er, "einen Song zu schreiben, der nur technische Begriffe und Redewendungen benutzte, und ihn trotzdem sehr emotional und persönlich zu machen. In den alten Apollo-Handbüchern steckt so viel Poesie: "switch to Omni Bravo [schalte auf Omni Bravo um]" und "the bright ejecta blanket [die helle Auswurfmasse (eines Einschlagkraters)]". Der Song war ziemlich schwer aufzunehmen, da er in seinem Verlauf sowohl den Takt als auch die Tonart wechselt. Was auf dem Klavier so einfach geklungen hatte, wurde schnell kompliziert, als wir es in ein vollständiges Arrangement übertrugen. Aber ich denke, wir haben es schließlich geschafft!"
Da sind auch drei Songs, die Pauls emotionale Verbindung zu seinem ursprünglichen und zu seinem neuen Heimatland widerspiegeln. "Shadowside", sagt er, "fühlt sich ziemlich norwegisch an — bezüglich der Melodie, der Akkorde und der Stimmung." "The Bandstand" erinnert ihn an seine erste Reise nach New York City in den frühern 1980ern, bevor a-ha berühmt wurden. "Songs sind wie ein Fotoalbum — sie können dich wirklich in der Zeit zurückkatapultieren. Und dieser erinnert mich daran, wie es war, mit 35 Dollar in der Tasche bei der Hafenbehörde anzukommen, richtig hochtoupierte, gelbe, fast durchsichtige Synthesizer-Haare zur Schau tragend und am Leib ein Tiger-T-Shirt und einen braunen Anzug, so dass ich wie ein Außerirdischer aussah!" Und der Titelsong des Albums, "Foot Of The Mountain" — geformt aus zwei zuvor separaten Songs, der eine von Paul, der andere von Magne geschrieben — beschäftigt sich mit einem der grundlegenden Konflikte des modernen Lebens, dem Zwiespalt zwischen der Natur und der Zivilisation der großen Städte: Für Paul, dem Trubel von New York City gegenüber der Schönheit und Einsamkeit von Norwegen. "Es ist das Dilemma, wenn man das Großstadtleben liebt, aber sich insgeheim fragt, ob wir nicht glücklicher wären, wenn wir von offenen Feldern und weitläufigen Bergen umgeben wären."
Track List
Disc 1 Foot Of The Mountain (2009)
- 1: The Bandstand
- 2: Riding The Crest
- 3: What There Is
- 4: Foot Of The Mountain
- 5: Real Meaning
- 6: Shadowside
- 7: Nothing Is Keeping You Here
- 8: Mother Nature Goes To Heaven
- 9: Sunny Mystery
- 10: Start The Simulator
Lyrics The Bandstand
You stand in the doorway
A block up the street
Ringing the doorbell
There’s tapping of feet
High yellow hair
And a worn brown suit...
Enter, and break the news
Now tell me the story
I give it the time
No need to worry
Everything’s fine
I’ll take you away
From the name-calling scene
Sure... you can bring your magazine
Cold and windblown on the old bandstand
You and I walking hand in hand
A neon-glow shining
Down on us
Don’t wait up for us
Don’t wait up for us
Now tell me the story
I’ll give it the time
When you stop looking
Then you will find
I’ll take you away
From this name-calling scene
Just bring your magazine
Cold and windblown on the old bandstand
You and I walking hand in hand
A neon-glow shining
Down on us
Don’t wait up for us
Don’t wait up for us
Words by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy
Music by Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy,
Produced by Mark Saunders
Lyrics Riding The Crest
You search your mind
That’s what it’s there for
Check all the whys’
And all the wherefores’
In your mind
You’re tall and brave
Riding the crest
Of a high and beautiful wave
You make your movements known
And where you want to be
And everybody knows
That’s how it’s got to be
In the sheltered morning sun
In the sheltered morning sun
Internally
You make your own rules
You’ll have excuses
The ones that you choose
In the end
You deem unsafe;
Riding the crest
Of a high and beautiful wave
You make your movements known...
There comes a time
You don’t even know what’s missing
Some sugar to make the pill go down
You need a line
A push in the right direction
The sugar that makes the pill go down
True
True to form
True to pre-existing norms
Truly wasted
At a rave
Riding the crest
Of a high and beautiful wave
Words by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy
Music by Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy
Produced by Steve Osborne, Erik Ljunggren and a-ha, with elements produced by Mark Saunders
Lyrics What There Is
Empty glass
Gets another round
Squeaky chair
Makes another sound
There is a gentle breeze
Playing in your hair
Come take a bow
While you’re still
All there
It’s what it is
It’s what it was
It’s what it will be here
After us
There is no memory
There’s no recall
No recollections
At all
Your dark glasses
Sliding down your nose
Now bring these proceedings
To a close
It’s what there is
It’s what there was
It’s what will be here
After us
Your dark glasses
Sliding down your nose
Now bring these proceedings
To a close
You can make it all worthwhile
You can lend yourself some style
You can give them all the reasons
All the facts that you have seasoned
You can hear them hoot and holler
As you come across a scholar
You can set your name in lights
You can make two wrongs a right
Words by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy
Music by Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy
Produced by Steve Osborne, Erik Ljunggren and a-ha, with elements produced by Mark Saunders
Lyrics Foot Of The Mountain
Keep your clever lines
Hold your easy rhymes
Silence everything
Silence always wins
It’s a perfect alibi
There’s no need to analyse
It will be alright through the longest night
Just silence everything
But we could live by the foot of a mountain
We could clear us yard in the back
Build a home by the foot of the mountain
We could stay there and never come back
Learn from my mistake
Leave what others take
Speak when spoken to
And do what others do
Silence always wins
So silence everything
It will be alright in the morning light
Just silence everything
But we could live by the foot of a mountain
We could clear us yard in the back
Build a home by the foot of the mountain
We could stay there and never come back
We could stay there and never come back
You know it
We could leave tonight
But we could live by the foot of a mountain
We could make us a white picket fence
Build a home by the foot of the mountain
We could stay there and see how it ends
We could stay there and see how it ends
We could stay there and see how it ends
Words by Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy
Music by Magne Furuholmen, Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and Martin Terefe
Produced by Roland Spremberg
Lyrics Real Meaning
Don’t change me
I’m gonna break if you try
Don’t change you
You know the tears
I’m gonna cry
And I sure will
Miss us when we’re gone
You’re the real meaning of the sun
It shows you off to everyone
You’re the real meaning of the sun
It shows you off to everyone
The real meaning
I want the real meaning
Don’t fix me
It breaks my heart
To see you try
Don’t fix you
And leave me for
Some other guy
And I sure will
Miss us when we’re done
You’re the real meaning of the sun
It shows you off to everyone
You’re the real meaning of the sun
It shows you off to everyone
When I’m thinking about you fondly
Then I’m thinking about the only
Real meaning of the sun
You’re the real meaning of the sun
It shows you off to everyone
You’re the real meaning of the stars
They guide me to the places you are
The real meaning
I want the real meaning
Words by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy
Music by Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy
Produced by Steve Osborne, Erik Ljunggren and a-ha, with elements produced by Mark Saunders
Lyrics Shadowside
The shadowside
You say I have
Is making everything
Go bad
You say I don’t
Care enough
For all the things that
I have got
But I do
And I will
I don’t want to see myself descend
Into the shadowside again
If you ever let me go again
In the shadowside I’ll end
The shadowside
Where I go
I’m never where
I’m needed so
You say I don’t
Give enough
That I don’t care for
All I’ve got
But I do
And I will
I don’t want to see myself descend
Into the shadowside again
If you’re letting go of me again
In the shadowside I’ll end
Words and music by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy
Produced by Roland Spremberg
Lyrics Nothing Is Keeping You Here
The lights change on the hill
The air seems strangely still
Everyone’s asleep
The floorboards creak at dawn
As you walk out on the lawn
The grass is wet beneath
You think it rather strange
You think it rather weird
It’s fair to say that
Nothing is keeping you here
Nothing is keeping you here
Nothing is keeping you here
The phone is off the hook
As you sink into a book
You don’t know where you are
From the world; detached
Unto a girl you latched
It never got too far
And everybody talks
And everybody stares
It’s safe to say that
Nothing is keeping you here
Nothing is keeping you here
Nothing is keeping you here
And everybody's down
And everybody cares
You knew your day to shine
Would come without you here
Come without you here...
Nothing was keeping you here
Nothing is keeping you here
Words and music by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy
Produced by Roland Spremberg
Lyrics Mother Nature Goes To Heaven
Wrong
You never got it wrong
You always got it right
But now some time has passed;
You’re ever so slightly off
Thing you could do asleep
In a not too distant past,
Are trying your patience
Harder now
And though
Everything moves along
You hope the rumour’s wrong
That Mother Nature
Goes to heaven
Right
You never got it right
It always got away
When you had it nailed
It was ever so slightly off
Sending you somewhere else
Than where you had to be
Making it that much
Harder now
And though
You’re struggling to get on track
It pales somewhat to the fact
That Mother Nature goes to heaven
And there will be no sadder day
When all the birds
Have flown away
Words and music by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy
Produced by Roland Spremberg, with elements produced by Mark Saunders
Lyrics Sunny Mystery
You can run through every forest
You can sail in the seven seas
You can climb the highest mountain
To try and dissolve these memories
In case you never knew it
You can’t undo it
You can jump off the edge of the world
Hide out in some monastery
Lose your mind in meditation
And never put your mind at ease
You think you’re running to it
But you are wading through it
A sunny mystery
Life is the dream that you wake up to
Dreams are the life from which you wake
Everybody makes the extra effort
Never knowing what to do
But you know the answer
Yeah, you know the score
It feels just like before
It’s a sunny mystery
That’s how it’s got to be
Because no one knows for sure
The outcome of this
Sunny mystery
Words and music by Magne Furuholmen
Produced by Steve Osborne, Erik Ljunggren and a-ha, with elements produced by Mark Saunders
Lyrics Start The Simulator
Start the simulator
Controllers, listen up
What’s your status, Guidance?
Let’s take it from the top
Coming up on docking
The beginnings of a tear
Clearing the tower
We take the air
Start the simulator
Give your tanks a stir
The bright ejecta blanket
All is still a blur
Switch to Omni Bravo
B bus under volt
Roll right to zero
Steady as she goes
We’re going to fly so high,
Into the rendered sky
We’re going to be all right
Inside the endless night
Start the simulator
I.S.O. valves are gray
EDS to manual
Translation looks okay
Save it for the splash-down
Things you want undone
You’re in command now
Your home away from home
You’re in control now
Now you’re on your own
Words and music by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy
Produced by Mark Saunders and Roland Spremberg
