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| 30 November 2004 |
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| - Feel better than ever before |
| Source : Nordlys |
OSLO: Four days before Lene Marlin (24) will embark on her very first tour, she is surprised that she hasn't gotten panicky.
At the east side of Oslo, in a rehearsal hall in the basement of Stovner Rock fabric, Lene Marlin stands on stage. She's singing Sorry accompanied by a six man large band. There are hard drums and catchy riffs. It's four days until tour premiére, and red spotlights are again shining on the Tromsø girl. Because, on December 3rd it all breaks loose. Stavanger is first stop for the super tour with Morten Abel, Bertine Zetlitz, and not least Lene Marlin on the playbill.
- It's not long until the opening concert, and now it's about to dawn on me, says Lene Marlin.
- However, surprisingly enough I still haven't gotten panicky. I believe this is because my whole head is filled with music, there is no room for anything else, she says.
- A lot has changed
There are now six years since Lene Marlin made her debut with the album Playing My Game. A debut that is being counted as the country's most successful. She sold millions of records and was on top of charts in both Norway and abroad. But then it got quiet. She was no longer to be seen in the media, it took a whole four years before album number two came. Another hit, some few concerts, but no tour. Not until now. Lene Marlin is totally back in the limelight. In addition to this tour she is soon also of current interest with movie music to the cartoon movie The Ugly Duckling. She will be writing some songs for the movie, while the well-known movie composer Jacob Groth is writing the soundtrack.
- I am not the same
- I have changed a lot since I made my debut, I'd say. I'm not the same. Now I have more overview of what I want and I have gotten an insight into what really means something in life. However, this is natural, of course you're going to change from when you're 17 to when you're 24, she says. She is quiet for a bit before she continues:
- But now I'm feeling really great. I don't think I've ever felt this great before. It's a real kick to be playing again, she says.
Especially she's looking forward to the trio stops in Tromsø on December 13th.
- I would never in my life had joined this tour if I couldn't have added Tromsø to the concert schedule. It's going to be a very special experience for me, but I think it's so for all artists playing in their home town. Many of my best friends will be present to watch me, and I should hope that my family also shows up, she smiles.
- Tromsø is a haven
Whether she will return to the arctic sea city this Christmas, she won't reveal.
- I have not yet decided on where I'm going to celebrate Christmas, she says.
- Are you in Tromsø often?
- Often and often. I'm sure I'm home equally much as everyone else who's moved away from home, she says.
- What do you do when you're in Tromsø?
- I do private stuff.
- Are you out on town?
- I'm 24 years of age, I can't just say I'm just sitting at home, staring at the wall. However, Tromsø is a haven, and this is how I still would want it to be, she says, and is adding that she's still noticing some of what's going on up there in the north.
- I'm reading a bit of local newspapers, and if there are something I don't catch, I'm always getting reports. Certainly, I can't register everything. I've been living in Oslo for five years, after all. Five most important years of my life, she says.
- New constellation
Of the six musicians Lene Marlin is taking with her on tour, there is only one of them she's played together with earlier.
- It's fun playing together with them, it's a whole new constellation. My 'old' songs are being viewed with new eyes, something that leads to them getting a new life. Because, a bit of life there must be, especially with thoughts on the two other artists I'm going on tour with. Then I can't be getting on stage with a couple of classical guitars. That's going to be somewhat undiversified, she says.
The last days before tour start have been spent picking out which songs to be included in the set.
- Even though I have only released two albums, there are still many songs, and it's a bit hard to decide on what's to be included in the set.
- Will there be any new ones?
- Perhaps, perhaps. It may happen that there is a new song sneaking in, she reveals.
Is inspired
Lene Marlin tells us that in these days most of her time is spent rehearsing.
- I'm rehearsing almost all the time.
- What are you doing when you're not rehearsing?
- Then I'm thinking about rehearsing, she says and says that when she now has, seriously, been playing again, the inspiration is coming upon her sneakingly.
- When I'm working so much with this, at the same time as I'm in creative surroundings, I get very inspired again. Now it's not rare that I catch my notepad and write new songs. Music is always in my head, and I let myself be inspired by everything around me. It may be things happening in my life, or things that happen in the lives of those I know. I can write a song just based on that I see someone walking by on the street, or that I see someone through the window. It can really be anything between heaven and earth.
- Is there going to be a new album as a consequence of all this writing and inspiration?
- I feel I have a lot of time regarding a new album. Last time I spent four years, if I now make it in only three it will be a good improvement. I have enough material, but whether there will be a record out of what I have now, I don't know, she says.
Filled with experiences
Lene Marlin says that it hit her one of these days that there are seven years since the debut.
- Imagine, there are seven years since the first single. A lot has happened to me, and there has happened something to the music as well. However, whether I've gotten a new style, I'm not the right one to judge, but a lot has happened, she repeats, and thinks back on the time that has passed.
- Things did go very quickly for a while, when thousands of people on the floor were screaming my name simultanously during Hit Awards, when I was traveling around the world, and met a lot of people. It was a dramatic revolution in my life, she says.
However, she remembers the better when she first saw her name on a hit list.
- I was running in the corridors at the record company in pure joy and happiness. And was screaming god damned, how f.... great, it was a great experience. The people at the record company surely was thinking theirs, she laughs.
- Will be pleasing the audience
- Are you nervous about how you're going to be judged by the reviewers now?
- They must just get to throw their dices, and then it will land on what it lands on. I've learned to just cut out that focus. It's the audience I'm preoccupied of pleasing, she says.
Translated by Tef Johs
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