Journalists seem to be debating incessantly whether A-ha are now or have ever been hip, simply because they’ve recently received positive endorsements from sales monoliths Coldplay and U2.
On the other side of the coin, a British Tabloid smirked at Morten Harket looking ‘lonely and out of place’ at the Brit Awards earlier in the month. Judging by the company in attendance, I can only imagine it was like an obligatory booze up - a few mates, but mostly industry ‘up themselves’ idiots in their own cliques that I would rather have left behind and go home than go mingle.
That detracts from the publicity that the Norwegian trio have been recently receiving, and I would like to point out now it is no fluke. This album is not the comeback, it probably began at East of the Sun/West of the Moon, as they decided not to pander to audience and genre whims, and craft the music they wanted to play. After a brief hiatus, the actual finalising of this perfected sound
Summer Moved on was as good as Hunting High and Low back in 1985, but despite some exposure to digital channels (an appearance on Liquid News springs to mind), mainstream media and the casual record buying public seemed ignorant of their return. Follow-up Lifelines was every inch the same mould of Minor Earth. Using a variety of producers, they married acoustic and electric guitars with synthesizers and the result was a Keane/Coldplay hybrid with more
affecting vocals from Harket.
Analogue is an extension of that sound, but much earthier. It is clear the album was going to sell from the personnel drafted in to help deliver. Max Martin (producer of title track Analogue) wrote and produced most the Backstreet Boys’ hits, Martin Terefe (producer) recently produced KT Tunstall’s Top 10 album and Flood (Mixer) has worked with the Smashing Pumpkins, Depeche Mode, and U2. The pedigree behind this record is unquestionably stellar. The only question would be did the songs come along to match the quality of the engineers.
From opening track Celice, it is clear to see the answer is a resounding yes. The driving riff is intensely catchy and falsetto cries of Celice only emphasise the hurt conveyed. Analogue (All I want) is up there with Summer Moved on and Hunting High and Low as one of the best singles they’ve ever released, combining gnarling rock crunches with genteel piano supporting their pop renaissance. Pal Waaktaar-Savoy was always the driving force in A-ha’s heyday, but here his role is diminished to a few tracks, and some of those are collaborations (the title track being the obvious one). Morten Harket gets a couple of offerings akin to Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan, but it is Magne Furuholmen’s day to shine.
Birthright, Keeper of the Flame are sombre offerings with bare, haunting pianos, but unlike Keane, the dynamics are there and Harket’s vocal is not lost in the music, unlike Chaplin’s. Holyground, Cosy Prisons, Don’t Do Me Any Favours all solidify the feeling they are the masters of pop melancholy, but are uniquely different from each other in their execution.
There is the odd flaw - Halfway through the tour is not the best subject admittedly, but there are enough expertly crafted pop songs for the mature end of the market, and perhaps some young ‘uns will find themselves holding aloft their mobile phones to some of these torch-bearing anthems.
Craig Aston.
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