Perfect Sounds Forever presenterer:
Les Imprimés
< p>+ support: Sam Eagle (UK)Landmark / 15.oktober / 20.00: dører / 20.30: konsertstart
Morten Martens has been living with m usic for most of his life\, even when his name wasn’t attached to it. Fo r more than 20 years\, the Norwegian producer worked quietly behind the sc enes\, shaping other people’s records\, studying sound with the utmost r everence to form and craft. So it’s no surprise then that his work as Le s Imprimés feels realized\, the result of a sonic devotion dedicated to ‘50s doo-wop\, easy listening\, ‘60s and ‘70s soul\, the soft\, velv ety textures of the ‘80s\, and the alt-rock aesthetics of the ‘90s and ‘00s. There’s hip-hop in its DNA\, too\, emerging through airy rhythm \, natural imperfections\, and a soothing aura. \;
In turn\, Mar tens’ new album as Les Imprimés\, Fading Forward\, feels like a reckoni ng: a sun-soaked LP that carries the weight of years spent absorbing groov e\, melody and emotional truth\, honest and efficient\, gathered without p reconceptions of genre. Deliberately untethered to time\, Martens blends h is influences into art that feels lived-in\, nostalgic but not overly so — still very much now while acknowledging then. Martens records with res traint\, handling nearly all the playing himself\, leaning upon old studio practices where consistency created cohesion. You hear it in the way the album moves through a single melodic thought rather than a playlist. Equal ly warm\, analog and human\, nothing feels rushed or decorative. \;
Like many listeners of his generation\, Martens found his way backward through samples\, by tracing rap records to the old gospel\, soul\, jazz and funk vinyl that once filled his childhood home. That sense of return s aturates Fading Forward\, an intentional record about the complexities of life and the lessons learned from it. “It’s a bit about going into the future and leaving something behind in a way\,” he says.
On purpo se\, the album has darkness hidden within its bright hue\, and it’s not until you listen to the lyrics that you discover how deep it goes. Case in point\, the opening chords of “Greatest Mistake” rise slowly to the f ore\, conjuring the type of old soul you play when clouds hover low. Dig i nto the theme and you realize this: He’s encouraging listeners to move b eyond traumas of the past. Another song\, “Close My Eyes\,” uses gallo ping drums and wafting guitar to convey something danceable. But the words speak to the notion of trying to appease unhappy people: it won’t work no matter how hard you push\, and sometimes you’re the problem. The song doesn’t just point the f inger\, Martens takes responsibility for being unreachable emotionally. “Maybe I never let you in\, my closet full of skeletons\,” he ponders. “I expect you to understand the way I am.” \;
Yet the album isn’t overtly bleak. Other tracks like “Yo u and I” and “Get Lost” tap into the togetherness one can extract fr om human partnership and connection to nature. The former frames romance a s survival\, a portrait of two people navigating life’s endless obstacle s and choosing each other repeatedly. While the latter partially captures the mental weight of small-town isolation and the desire to sink into geog raphy\, it’s also about escaping one’s reality. “Paradise\,” the a lbum’s concluding track\, drifts through a gentle calm — emulating ‘ 50s Hawaiian soul — as it wrestles with grief. “I like the contrast be tween happy and sad. The music is very beautiful and nice\, and the lyrics are maybe not.” Martens explains. \;
That juxtaposition defin es much of the album’s emotional power\, and in the end\, Fading Forward speaks to both the LP’s emotional arc and Martens’ personal transitio n. Though Les Imprimés is still relatively new territory\, this well-dese rved spotlight is a thrilling shift from anonymity to vulnerability. But t he music never sounds unsure. Instead\, it moves with patience and clarity \, guided by taste\, experience and trust in feeling. Fading Forward isn ’t about reinvention so much as arrival\; it’s the vibration of an art ist finally allowing himself to be heard.
\n\nBoletos: https://perfects ounds.ticketco.events/no/nb/e/151026 URL;VALUE=URI:https://360exp.net/events/785fc758-3ed8-41cd-a4b4-fd7041608aa 8 STATUS:CONFIRMED END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR