For three simple words ‘I’, ‘love’ and ‘you’ have a clever way of hiding themselves, no more so than in The Alexandria Quartet’s debut album. Based in Bergen, Norway’s main student city and the country’s unofficial pop epicentre, the Quartet have been holed up in studios and rehearsal rooms for the last 18 months polishing a collection of beautiful songs bursting with love, loss and the kind of melodies that come along once in a blue moon.
‘Montauk’, inspired by the place in New York and its starring role as the place where love blooms in Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, is a great introduction to the band’s songbook. “I find it interesting to write love songs,” says singer and songwriter Martin Skålnes, “but when you’re writing a love song you can’t simply say ‘I love you’. I just say ‘let me take you to Montauk, is that where we’re meant to be’.”
Born in Kopervik, a small city on the west of Norway most well known for, as Martin puts it, “its drunks and its Christians”, Martin soon found out how to set his own agenda and while his friends were at church his parents would be playing him music - he states without hesitation that the first song he heard was The Searchers’ ‘Needles & Pins’, though REM would usually be on the car stereo and it wasn’t long before he fell in love with Oasis. By six he was working out his first chords on the guitar and by seven he was playing the piano; his first song, ‘Maybe’, was written when he was 11.
“It started with a dream and a desire to get out there and show people I was something,” Martin remembers, “but after a while I started to realise it was more about expressing who I already was.” This idea of expression is a key ingredient of The Alexandria Quartet’s appeal. Now 21, Martin can seem shy and unassuming; he seems to live his life through his lyrics, and somewhere in the heart of The Alexandria Quarter’s band’s album is the voice of an 11-year-old unbothered by life, blended with his more hardened and world-weary older self as he looks off into the future. It’s a captivating mix of innocence, experience and unease at what’s happened, what’s happening and what’s still to come.
The band’s story when Martin’s friend Øystein – The Alexandria Quartet’s future guitarist – moved to Trondheim and met Kim, a drummer, on the gig circuit. When Martin called from Bergen one day to tell his friend about a label who were interested in his music Øystein and Kim were on the next train. Last to join was bassist Chris Holm, and ‘Into The Light’ - the first song the band wrote together and one which captures brilliantly Martin’s anxiety about moving to Bergen - became a key song for the band. “I was in a completely new environment,” Martin remembers, “and the lyrics are about a relationship whose communication problems are spelling the end”. These little snapshots are what bring The Alexandria Quartet’s songs to life: it’s like the collage effect in the booklet to the original release of the band’s debut album, whose sleevenotes were a cut-n-paste scrapbook of the band’s first year together.
Another of the band’s key songs, ‘Somewhere’, is a moody affair which offers the merest glimmer of hope. “There needs to be hope in music,” Martin explains. “The lyrics in ‘Somewhere’ are relentlessly negative but we’ve added positivity in the music itself.” So while the lyrics suggest that the world is going under, a hopeless lost cause, the music adds the idea that things might just turn a corner. It’s the scrapbook idea, again: something from here, something from there, something from the back of your head, and the band’s sound has been subject to a similar mix of influences. While some bands find who they are in the studio, others define themselves in front of an audience – but The Alexandria Quartet take a bit of both. “We develop a sound in the studio and find an energy on stage, then try and feed back that energy when we’re back in the studio,” Martin says. Blending the sounds together has pushed the band in a brand new direction, developing a sound which continues to blossom as they work on tracks for their first international release.
June 2008
Reviews for the norwegian release of our debut album:
From the first song, the band demonstrates strong and rhythm-heavy energy.
An album which trembles and sparks.
(Five out of six – Dagbladet)
Read the review in norwegian
here.
A sensational, sophisticated and exceptionally great debut.
(Five out of six - Hamar Arbeiderblad)
Read the review in norwegian
here.
An impressively strong album.
(Five out of six – Bergensavisen)
Read the review in norwegian
here.
Characterized with genuine musical understanding, with thoroughly written songs of high quality.
(Five out of six – Sarpsborg Arbeiderblad)
Read the review in norwegian
here.
(Five out of six – Jærbladet)
Read the review in norwegian
here.
(Five out of six – Oppland Arbeiderblad)
Read the review in norwegian
here.
Exquisite debut
(Four out of six – VG)
Read the review in norwegian
here.
On their way to something big
(Four out of six - Bergens Tidene)
Read the review in norwegian
here.
These guys have got enormous potential
(Four out of six – planB.no)
Read the review in norwegian
here.
"Into The Light".
Made by our friends at kollektiv.no
We did an acoustic version of "Somewhere" for NRK Lydverket. The recording took place at the beautiful venue of Gamle Logen in Oslo, Norway 15.02.2008.
Hei! Klubb Øya blir strålende, ja. Skal bli en ære å spille sammen med dere! Vi har spilt på Tivoli Amfi tidligere, vi er jo faktisk fra Moss noen av oss, ganske kitch interiør, ja. Hele Moss er egentlig ganske kitch... Ses snart! o
Hi The Alexandria Quartet Don't miss the opportunity to play at the world's biggest festival for upcoming bands! Play at the best and biggest venues in your country. Sign up your band today at www.emergenzanordic.com Hope to see your band ON stage! All the best Emergenza Festival Nordic
Huba. I’m giving my song ‘Sunday’ away for free. Just click ‘download’ on my page, and it’s yours. Please pass it on to your brothers & sisters, anyone you love!
Veldig hyggelig å være blant deres venner. 'Somewhere' er noe av det herligste jeg har hørt på veldig lenge. gleder meg til å kjøpe plata, og til å se dere live.
Who would pay 4K an hour for that??? yeah, we were thinking the same thing! This week the bashers catch up on recent events and get as honest as possible. They also pay their respects to the late & great Arthur C. Clarke and figure out the differences between American English and the real thing.
Click picture to listen!
Send comments to letters2kendra@gmail.com (comments will be read on next weeks show) visit - www.ibashers.com
