‘Living with ourselves’ new solo album from Mags in November

Magne is releasing new solo material and has written this message to fans in connection with the upcoming release:

(how are we) living with ourselves

back in 2022, after the re-continued tour around the world with a-ha, i started writing new material and also going back over a couple of songs which were not included on the true north album. these songs did not yet have a specific address or purpose - would it be new material for a-ha? an apparatjik thing? a film-score, or some kind of solo project...was it even an album?

in the end it started to feel like a solo-record, and during winter and in spring of 2023, i self-produced 10 songs that felt pretty personal. the birth of ‘living with ourselves’. drums and bass were all programmed, and i was curious to see what our live-band even and karl oluf would bring to these tracks, so in june we packed up our equipment, and together with my man bjarne stensli as co-producer and engineer we set up shop in my house in the south of france.

i was actually pretty happy with the programmed versions, so not sure how i wanted to proceed - whether to start over and record a second version of the album, or just add new things to the existing production. i called karl and told him that he was not to bring any cymbals and no drum kit - just a bass drum - and that he would have to use things we found in the house to make noise, and then told even not to bring a bass. i guess i was just trying to trip up the guys (and myself) by removing habits formed by having played instruments professionally for so many years. thankfully they did not respect my wishes.

in the end, the session became a mixture of many things. we spent 12 days recording, eating and enjoying each other’s company - recording morning, noon and night. (thank you, patient neighbours!!) a helluva lot of re-amping went on also - sending my original takes all over the place; through amps into the basement, bathroom, bedrooms, even up the chimney(!) to make use of the characteristic acoustics of the house, microphones outside in the garden, using found objects etc. a result grew organically with everyone working not just as musicians and engineers but as a team of co-producers shaping the final outcome.

after returning home and finishing the mixes, i was fired up about planning a release, but in october i contracted covid (for the third time), this time with the added bonus of long-covid symptoms that lasted 5-6 months and a broken rib from coughing say what!?!?), so a release during that autumn / winter just seemed impossible. (ask me anything about food-shows on netflix in this period and i’ll quote them verbatim.)

it is highly unusual for me to have material around ‘fermenting’ for such a long time. i don’t like to second guess the initial impulse too much. once done, i normally just want to get it out there as quick as possible. yup, patience was never my strong suit. also i was trying to find some interesting way of releasing it - the much-travelled route of trying to excite a record-label and the subsequent howling in the media about it just sat wrong. a thought formulating in my head around this time was; ‘i just want to try to make interesting things for those who are interested’.

…and yeah, this is where you come in, guys! (well hopefully some of you at least :) with enough of you onboard, i will very happily let the rest of the world do its thing.

i have entertained the idea of channeling all my artistic output and step up my, shall we say ‘patchy’ presence on social media in some sort of enclosed community of friends, and although no such utopian place exists yet, the idea still refuses to let go. what this space, but don’t hold your breaths just yet.

to start off though, i have decided that a staggered release of songs later in the year leading up to christmas and beyond is that way to go, and to record a weekly podcast episode to go along with the release of each song.

for this podcast i would warmly welcome questions from you all - if you could please submit them to a-ha.com before september 15th.
ask me whatever. i’ll try to answer questions to the best of my ability..

the collection of songs are titled ‘living with ourselves’ and here be some titles coming your way - to get your noodles baking:
look how far we haven’t come
white horses
living with ourselves
god is in the details
world so strange
one 4 all and all 4 none
time is on your side

…there's more but, but let’s not ruin all surprises.

it is (hold on to your hats:) coming up on 40 years since a-ha had our first record out, and 20 years since my first solo-record 'past perfect future tense’…we be all grown up people now.

in the spirit of these anniversaries galore, i also have plans for a limited physical release to be announced shortly. and to celebrate music with you all in 2025 in some live format or another would be a joyful thing.

thank you for the opportunity to have what we create be heard in this world!

magne f