A Novel Resort...

This is about as fresh as it gets. Northern Portrait drummer M recently started working on a solo project and yesterday the very first recording was published under the moniker A Novel Resort (no website/Facebook yet). When the message arrived, I was busy watching some show on Netflix, but Everything We Ever Hoped For quickly put an end to that. And Everything We Ever Hoped For certainly is just that; everything we could ever hope for! A grand, melancholic, beautiful and epic pop ballad, which (musically more than vocally) of course made me think of blog favorite Richard Hawley, which again is probably the biggest accolade I can give any other artist. If any of you remember enjoying The Mirror Lounge (M & Northern Portrait companion Stefan Larsen’s former band), this new track will (for the second time) be everything (and much more) you could ever hope for. And finally to clear out a couple of things:
No – this doesn’t mean an end to M's involvement in Northern Portrait.
Yes – an album is on its way.
No – he doesn’t know when, where and how it will be released.
Yes – he’s written and recorded everything himself, so it is indeed a solo project.
Of course – I will keep you updated whenever there is news to share.


And if you’ve never heard of The Mirror Lounge mentioned above, I can only feel sorry for you. This will provide you with another and maybe final chance, so don’t miss out on it once again – ok?

40...

No point in beating around the bush. I’m still trying to digest this, but yesterday was my 40th birthday. And what a day it was, waking up at 11am seriously hungover and the apartment looking as if a bomb had went off. But we had a ball Saturday evening/night and I got some really lovely presents, which easily compensated for the rough times yesterday. However the true highlight of the evening was that the incredible talented Stefan (the young man in the picture - will try to find a more appropriate picture without a beer) of Northern Portrait showed up with his guitar, and played two acoustic sets including every Northern Portrait song, a few by The Mirror Lounge as well as cover versions of several timeless classics like There She Goes, There Is A Light That Never Goes Out,The Wild Ones and my wife's favorite; One. This also gave me the great opportunity to have a lengthy chat with Stefan and get a few updates on the band, and I’m probably not revealing too much by saying that things are slowly but steadily progressing. Both regarding the debut album and concert dates. So all together it was one terrific night and I will now return to digesting...
+ Northern Portrait - Crazy
+ Northern Portrait - I Give You Two Seconds To Entertain Me
+ The Mirror Lounge - Returns
+ The Mirror Lounge - Drifting Into A Secret Area
+ The Mirror Lounge - Don't Hunt Me Down
+ The Mirror Lounge - So Suddenly

Friday it is...

So it’s Beerfestival time tonight, but I’m afraid I'm having second thoughts about that demo of the month concert. I have lots of stuff I need to take care of tomorrow, so little sleep and severe hangovers could create a nightmare scenario.

I was happy and proud to see my name mentioned in the “thank you” credits on the Kind of girl album, though it probably means that I will now and forever be considered untrustworthy when I write something about this genuinely intelligent, friendly, innovative, talented and outstanding Danish band? OK - if we put the jokes aside for a minute Lonely in a modern way is indeed, as one could expect, a really fine album featuring 9 (or 9½) great pop tunes. You can stream the whole thing at the band’s webpage, and I can only recommend that you give it a listen.

Found the following comment on yours truly at the Play People myspace page: “we love stytzer and his blog. his was the first blog to feature us and it's full of great writing about great bands. he's good at rumours too....”. Know what you playmobil figures? I love you guys too and your catchy tunes are the purest of pop. However I need to practice a bit on those rumors!
+ Square One

Exactly three months ago I introduced you to The Mirror Lounge, which was (or perhaps still is) another project featuring Stefan of Northern Portrait. He has now been so kind mailing me a copy of the band's 2006 album Les Elegantiers and it’s been getting quite a few spins this morning. As I wrote back then the music is miles away from those incredible The Smiths inspired jangling pop tunes of Northern Portrait and in all its grandness it’s far more related to the likes of Chris Isaak, The Divine Comedy and Scott Walker. But despite the musical differences Stefan has absolutely no problems proving that he can handle this genre as well, as he croons his way through this beautiful album. The album is still available for download via Amazon.
+ So Suddenly
+ Don't Hunt Me Down
+ Drifting into a Secret Area (still so gorgeous)
+ Returns

The Mirror Lounge...

The Mirror Lounge is not a new band, but for the time being it’s a highly inactive one. Instead the two band members Stefan and Michael are busy focusing on their recent project Northern Portrait. But despite this connection; don’t expect lots of jangling guitars or any of those short sweet pop tunes that Northern Portrait writes in bunches from the hands of The Mirror Lounge. Instead this is as grandiose, majestic pop music as you’ll ever hear. But rest assure. The songs are still incredibly catchy, sounding like Scott Walker and Richard Hawley having the best of times teaming up with Chris Isaak. One album called Les Elegantiers was recorded and released digitally in 2006, but it seems like it’s no longer available (the links are dead). I’m told that a limited edition of the album might end up being printed someday, but there are no official plans yet! But luckily 4 songs are free to download from the band’s webpage, and I urge you to quickly grab all of them, as this is highly recommendable stuff!
+ So Suddenly
+ Don't Hunt Me Down
+ Drifting into a Secret Area (simply gorgeous)
+ Returns