London
artist reacts to the trauma of 22.07.11 and gives away a
song
for Norway.
Neal
Hoffmann is a London based singer/songwriter who, after touring in
Norway
with Ephemera in 2003, fell in love with the country and its people.
He
has
since been back several times and thinks of himself as "an
insider on the
outside."
He
managed to teach himself Norwegian by reading Norwegian books and
articles
on NRK.
When
the events of July 22nd 2011 unfolded, he was following the
developments
online and, like thousands of others, could not believe what
was
happening in Norway.
A lot
has happened since. People have struggled with it in their various
and
different
ways. Neal did what songwriters do, he wrote a song.
He
wanted to talk about the event but not about the perpetrator. He
imagines,
that
if you lose someone close, a part of your world disappears. The pain
cannot
be put into words. It cannot be explained. An artist, however, can
try to
approach
it with his/her own view and understanding and see what will
happen.
What happened in Neal's case, was a song called, 'Half
the
Universe
(is missing)'.
The
song was recorded at Neal's house in London, using a Mac, guitars,
reed
organs,
basses and pianos. Drummer Jari Salminen recorded the drums in his
studio
in Finland. Ephemera, (the lovely Christine Sandtorv, Jannicke Larsen
and
Ingerlise Størksen) recorded the backing vocals at Tinnitus
Recording
Studio
in Bergen using their own intuition and creativity to record what
felt
right
to them.
Neal
wrote the string arrangement, which was then recorded by Antonia
Pagulatos
(violin and viola) and Celine Barry (cello) in London.
The
mixing session was completed recently and Miles Showell was entrusted
to put
the finishing touches to it by mastering the song at Abbey Road
studios
in
London. The reputation of the studio is, of course, legendary.
Half
the Universe (is missing) will
be released on 05.11.13, as a free
download
and on various streaming services, including Spotify and WiMP.
The
song can be heard here:
https://soundcloud.com/amphibic/half-the-universe-is-missing
The
whole thing would not have possible without a little help from these
friends.
Big thank you goes to:
Ephemera
are a Bergen based band,
consisting of Christine
Sandtorv,
Ingerlise
Størksen and Jannicke Larsen. They have won the
Spellemannprisen
(Norway's Grammy) in 2002 and 2003 as well as the
Alarmprisen
in 2003.
Antonia
Pagulatos has played for
George Harrison, Damon Albarn, Madness,
Tom
Jones, Mark Ronson, Duran Duran and Leona Lewis.
Celine
Barry, is an Irish
cellist, she has played with Amphibic, The Divine
Comedy
and the Tonic Fold and performs with various London orchestras and
quartets.
Jari
Salminen works as a
drummer in Helsinki. He plays with 'Poets of the
Fall'
and various others.
Tinnitus
Recording Studio is a
recording studio in Bergen, run by Bjarte
Ludvigsen.
Josh
von Staudach took time
out and helped with some good ideas
concerning
the arrangement.
Sascha
Høvring took the picture
of Neal in Bergen.
Additional
info:
Neal
Hoffmann's song 'Hungry Man', from Amphibic's second studio album,
was
used on the American TV series, Switched
at Birth.
Neal
Hoffmann has recorded two albums for German Indie label Haldern Pop
Recordings.
The albums were released with his band Amphibic, in 2004 and
2008.
He has a current self produced EP called 'Fleetwood Road Session
Tasters'
and is working towards releasing another album soon.
Contact:
Neal
Hoffmann
Terje
Øye
Press
photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amphibic/
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