Velvet Belly

Written and recorded between Jan. 2000 and Aug. 2002 at sonic Electronic & KRS studio. Mixed at KRS studio. Mastered at Living Room. ℗ 2003 Just Entertainment © 2003 Playground Music Scandinavia AB Liner notes for the bonus CD (originally published on www.velvetbelly.com): 1. Just In Time "Just In Time" was along with "Flow" back in 1999 the first song written and recorded for the new album. Anne Marie, Tor Henning and Vidar recorded the first version in Vidar's studio in Brugata, Oslo. The song was rerecorded in 2001 with Nicholas Sillitoe at the studio 'Sonic Electronic' in Oslo. "Just In Time" is one of Anne Marie's favorites, but was unfortunately left out as we decided that Erik Honoré should produce and record the new album from scratch. 2. Scar When we started working on the album "The Landing" together with Erik Honoré, we decided that the album ought to be an organic extension of our previous album "Window Tree", although more electronic. The result was for us an artistic success. It included long introvert pop songs on one hand, and some more accessible pop songs on the other. The tracklisting on "The Landing" was a headache, and in the end we felt that "Scar" was powerful, but in the wrong way. It was therefore left out. A great outtake from a great album. 3. Icicle Vidar and myself were experimenting with samples and came up with structures for "Icicle" and "Slowtalk". We recorded and finished them more or less together with Anne Marie in two days at our rehearsal room. We later did some overdubs together with Nicholas Sillitoe at 'Sonic Electronic'. He mixed it during the same session as "Just In Time" and "Voice Of The Senses". Overdubs for "Between The Words" were also done at this session and were used as basics by Erik Honoré and Jan Bang in the recording and mixing process of our latest album. 4. Lover 4am A live recording with no overdubs from the studio 'Soundscape', helped along by a lot of Blue Smirnoff, finished at 4am. Anne Marie came up with a vocal part that really inspired Tor Henning and myself. This was a period when Anne Marie listened a lot to Jeff Buckley and it is one of the most powerful vocals she's done. Almost a blues with a lot of atmosphere, and some really magical moments. "Lover 4am" was never considered for "The Landing" but perfect for "Lost Songs And Mixed Blessings". 5. She Anne Marie originally wrote this song as a piano ballad, but the expression changed radically during the recording process. The inspiration for the arrangement was Bowie's "Low" and "Heroes". 6. Slowtalk A live recording in two takes, mixed by Vidar and recorded at the same session as "Icicle". 7. Voice Of The Senses The lyrics are written by David Thomas, also known as the frontman of Pere Ubu. The original title of this song is "Voice Of The Sand Says". Anne Marie had the original song on a cassette and believed the title was "Voice Of The Senses". She integrated the melody and 'free-style translated' lyrics into a fresh guitar arrangement by Tor Henning. It was recorded in our rehearsal room in Oslo with Vidar as an engineer. Next we did overdubs with Nicholas Sillitoe and he also mixed it. This version was sent off to Mr. David Thomas. He responded very positively, allowing us to release our version and keep the title "Voice Of The Senses". The song is also available on Friendly Selection Vol. 1, "Lucid Voices And Lazy Beats" (Beatservice Records, 2002). 8. Shifting Sands After "The Landing" we had an idea of making an EP with cover versions. We were going to pick two songs each, rehearse, record and choose the best versions. This however never happened. Anne Marie's boyfriend at the time had a cassette of West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band's first album "Part One". There are some instant classics on this album like "Transparent Day", "I Won't Hurt You", a cover of The Mothers' "Help I'm A Rock" and "Shifting Sands". Anne Marie told us she first considered "I Won't Hurt You", but went for "Shifting Sands". Anja Garbarek released a version of "I Won't Hurt You" in 2000 and scored a minor hit with it. We played "Shifting Sands" live a couple of times, and a similar version was recorded at 'Spydeberg Studio'. In the mix Erik took away the drums, guitars and keyboards, kept the vocals, bass and added a new keyboard arrangement. This was the first time we recorded a cover version. Still it didn't make it on to the album "Lucia". 9. Before Betrayal The last song recorded during "The Landing" sessions. Anne Marie didn't write the lyrics for this one, Erik did, and he also made several mixes of the song. We couldn't agree on any of them, and the track was thus left out for more or less the same reason as "Scar". 10. Without Us Basically a 'one take', live recording. Anne Marie was at the time reading the book "An African Elegy" by Ben Okri. The poem with the same name became the lyrical starting point to this song. It was later rewritten by Dag Olsvik and Anne Marie. The song nearly made it onto "Lucia", but we were dissatisfied with the mix. It was lacking the atmosphere and energy from the recording momentum. Vidar arrived to the recording session directly from a tour in Germany and was rather exhausted. "Without Us" is one of Vidar's favourite left-outs, but he still can't remember recording it. 11. Thirst Anne Marie, Tor Henning and Vidar composed music for the Norwegian film "Thirst: Crimes Of The Future". This film was based on 5 stories by Knut Hamsun, directed by 3 different directors, each responsible for their separate part of the film. The music for one of the parts was remixed Velvet Belly material, but the song "Thirst" was written exclusively to promote the film. The song was never released, the film a turkey and nobody went to see it. Still, it's a great song and nice closer for this bonus CD. (© 2003, Kay Rune Rasmussen)