Morten Abel has been delivering quality songs since 1981, but "the most interesting period is always now," he says in our interview, which touches on everything from songwriting to why he is optimistic about the industry, and to what he himself listens to.
/ 30/10/2015 / codexText: Kai Lofthus
Most people know what kind of music is coming ut by Morten Abel, but what is going on? inn in the creative machinery of this versatile genre artist? We have spoken to him, and one of his collaborators, Arne Hovda, about songwriting. Morten has also created a playlist, exclusively for those of you reading this article. Conclusion: Abel is an eternally curious music fan.
When the Mods album “Revansj” was released on Audun Tylden’s Desperado Records label in 1981, Morten Abel Knutsen had just gained the right to vote. Yet his distinctive voice – both as a vocalist and lyricist – testified to a more mature soul than many other 18-year-olds.
To emphasize it even more clearly: Two years earlier he had already written the classic in which those whom he called "Indians, colorful loose birds and leisure people" on the square steps in Stavanger in the recently broadcast NRK program "Låtskriver'n" were spun together into the sympathetic character "Tore Tang".
The album, which consists of 11 (and not one bad) tracks, captured the spirit of the times. At the same time, the lyrics proved to be timeless, serving as a soundtrack for the thoughts and feelings of several future generations of youth (this writer was struck by the album at a folk high school in Karmøy in the late 80s and was never the same again).
After the Mods disbanded, Abel showed a formidable progression. In his mid-20s, he quickly took a position as an originator and performer of international caliber in the September When. After the green and alternative rock began to dominate the market from the early 90s, he moved on with Peltz in 1994. Then in 1997, his solo career began, which still shows no signs of slowing down. He has also been an actor in films and theater performances, and has written a novel and music for film, theater and a musical.
With everything Abel knows about the musician's life, the market and the industry today, would he have tried again if he were a teenager today?
– Absolutely, he answers without hesitation. – When I started, no one dreamed that it would become anything more than a youth hobby. Everyone thought it would either be the military or education. No one thought that you would be doing music as an adult. There was no big planning behind it. It was very spontaneous stuff, and very much for yourself. What is happening in the industry has nothing negative to say about recruitment. Even though everything has become very different; the artists are suffering and the record companies are growing, it will turn around in a few years, and everyone will get paid.
Abel comes across as a true music fan with subscriptions to Spotify and Wimp, an active iTunes customer relationship, regular reading of magazines like Q and Mojo, and he says he “thinks it’s cool” when he hears new music from bands like Elbow and War on Drugs. On his Facebook page, he lists musicians like T.Rex, The Rolling Stones, Cockney Rebel, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Page, Keith Jarrett, Miles Davis, Pharoah Sanders, Jane’s Addiction, the Stone Roses, the Libertines and Dr. Dre among his influences.
Arne Hovda, who collaborates extensively with Morten Abel, confirms his impression of him as someone who likes to develop:
– There is a certain impatience that characterizes him, and it results in an efficient writing process. He quickly decides whether an idea has the right to life. It sharpens the senses, and becomes an exciting process where many things are tried out, he says.
With such an eclectic taste in music, he could easily have taken off in the production of his latest album “I fullt alvor”, which was released on his own label – Commercial Animal, run in collaboration with Espen Yung Svendsen – via Warner Music earlier this year.
But, as he told Tor Andersen in the NRK program Låtskriver'n: He wanted to develop again.
– I started writing the old way, and it was very liberating – to do it with one instrument, that the melody and the song stand on their own. You can sit at a nachspiel, or here, or anywhere, and play the song, and you are not dependent on the production that comes with it for the song to work, he said in the interview. On his Norwegian-language solo debut, he worked closely with Hovda and Odd Nordstoga. He reveals that there will be more soon.
With his own studio, Elektrolüd, with Børge Fjordheim, based at Tou Scene in Stavanger, he can be as productive as he wants.
– I'm going to do something similar to "I fullt alvor" on the new album. It's going to be organic, but there will be more rhythm and groove. I hope we can record songs during the year. It always takes more time than you think, he says, adding that he hopes the new album can be released as early as spring 2016.
Hovda elaborates more on the collaboration:
– Morten and I have been writing songs together for a few years now. Like all modern men, we break up the writing with yoga and mountain hikes, which gives an extra dimension to the work, and sometimes postpones the work a bit! Morten is a fountain of creativity, and has an extraordinary ability to come up with catchy melodies. Our process often starts with me playing a chord progression. Morten can then invent a melody that in some cases ends up as a whole, finished song. He will also remember exactly what he sang afterwards. He is very musical, and manages to work across most genres. His creative abilities and long experience mean that he manages to capture the audience time and time again, either in the form of songs that captivate or as a live artist who seizes the stage with his heart, the eternal circus artist.
Morten himself says about songwriting that “… it's like hammering on a log. You get off to a good start, hammer it out and you're satisfied.”
And he is usually always satisfied with the 12-14 songs that come out of the studio.
– The most interesting period is always now, he concludes.
Since Abel is so obviously a music fan, we asked if he could make a playlist for you readers. Here are the titles and artists. It's best to create the playlist yourself – on your favorite streaming service or a cassette tape.
Lippy Kids – Elbow
Can't Stand Me Now – The Libertines
Under the Pressure – War On Drugs
From Eden – Hozier
Afternoon – Baxter Dury
Giant – Django Django
Polk Salad Annie – Tony Joe White
Matadjem Yinmixan – Tinariwen
Golden Brown – The Stranglers
The Riffle Spiral – The Shins
Lovesick – Lindstrøm