Turning Up The Heat Again<\/em>, and it contains three brand new songs that are exclusive to this release. They were written and recorded in the same breath as what\u2019s to come, but for now this is what I want you to hear!<\/p>\n\u201cAfter The Coup\u201d was written last winter, and recorded with great ease, elevated by Dave Heilman\u2019s intricate drum and percussion arrangement, Alexander\u2019s keys flourishes and patterns, and Chris Holm\u2019s fretless-bass excursions. My first instinct was that it would be interesting to try to keep a song of some drama and tempo light on its feet. Co-producer Vetle Junker has a gentle, warm touch that inspired me to sing the song in the lower octave, the way I wrote it, rather than straining for power and more melodrama. The song is written in some frustration over how effectively the holy powers of religion are exploited to sugarcoat, disguise and justify all that\u2019s bad and broken in our trying current times.<\/p>\n
\u201cTurning Up The Heat Again\u201d was the first new song we began recording for this new era. I\u2019d had the chord section for years and tried many times to make something of it. One day while traveling home from a gig, I got stuck at an airport for five hours, and I went to work. Some of the chatter you hear looped in the background is from the original Voice Memo demo I recorded at the airport while writing the song. Incidentally, it\u2019s a song about trying to write a song, and dedicating a lifetime in service of your own creations and passions. It\u2019s a dub\/trip-hop\/bossa-hybrid. My friend Mariana Sangita on vocals, and the great Solveig Wang on clarinet. Kato \u00c5dland co-produced with me, it took forever to fully land. I find this to be my most witchy song yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiplomacy\u201d is a song I made up without much fuzz in the midst of this long process. I was starting to see what songs I had, and what was missing. For the longest time, “Diplomacy” was called “Ode To Chile” \u2014 I hadn\u2019t found the words yet by the time we started recording it, and the music felt indebted to my vague conception of Chilean folk and rock music. The band made it all sing in co-producer Matias Tellez\u2019s new studio in Bergen, with some late addition guests: upright bass player Ole Morten V\u00e5gan and violinist Harpreet Bansal, both extraordinary ambassadors for Oslo\u2019s thriving music scene. And Norwegian\/Brazilian singer Gabriela Garrubo on vocals. It\u2019s a simple song capturing everyday disillusionment and destruction in a world where warmongers are applauded for their perverse optics of peace. It\u2019s also my first song In 5\/4 (or is it 7\/8? I can\u2019t recall) time signature. I had to send the sketch to my drummer Dave to ask him what time signature it was.<\/p>\n
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Give the new EP a spin below.<\/p>\n