The stunt-maker
By TOM Magne Armann
Dubious PR-stunt or a tribute to the fans? Magne Furuholmen's (45) latest album is released in only 300 copies. Now he is hand-painting each and every cover at the top of the left tower of Oslo City Hall.
He is selling the music and artwork for the symbolic sum of 800 kroner. Or as he writes in his blog on MySpace: 100 euro.
"i reckon if i can get my gallerists to tear hair out because the paintings are too cheap, and you (my record buyers) to tear yours out because the album's so pricey, i will at least get a lot of hair... and with it perhaps start a small business as a speciality chapeau-shop.", Magne Furuholmen wrote in his MySpace blog on January 16th.
"No, I'm not tearing my hair out", says gallerist Sigmund S. Bakken at Trafo in Asker.
"But it's incredibly cheap for both an album and an artwork by Furuholmen at that price. It's OK by me. This is something he does for all the fans that have followed him closely for many years. A kind of bonus which shows that money isn't everything", the gallerist claims.
Painter in the tower
Tuesday night, Magne Furuholmen and his assistant Tor Einar Johansen [Jensen (J.)] were in place in the west tower of Oslo City Hall. There are three galleries in the tower, and he has borrowed one of these from a fellow artist to do the actual art-stunt.
The music will later be made available on the net, so that everyone can download it for free.
When it comes to the cover itself, which this event is about, it will be painted as one big picture, only to be divided into 300 parts, one for each album. Every single copy will be unique and signed.
"Part of the idea is that each of those 300 later can find others who have a piece of the artwork, on the internet", Sigmund S. Bakken explains.
Waiting list
Within a short period of time, the art sale at bargain price was over. That's what Magne Furuholmen himself says in a new blog on January 21st, where he also adds that the next 150 people have been put on a waiting list.
As soon as the paint dries, the album and art cover will be sent out to those who were observant and quickly responded to Furuholmen's art blog. On February 15th, the lucky 300 will have the album in hand, the artist himself promises.
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Review:
Likeable Furuholmen
Magne Furuholmen's second album is a nice little gift to his fans.
(4 out of 6)
Magne Furuholmen has for a long time had a distinct presence on the Norwegian culture scene, also outside of the things surrounding a-ha. His solo debut Past Perfect Future Tense will not be standing as a monument in the history of music though, but he's taking some solid steps in the right direction with the music- and art-project A Dot Of Black In The Blue Of Your Bliss.
Free gift for the fans
With his release number two, Magne has chosen to do a Radiohead: on the artist's MySpace-page you can now download the brand new mini album - completely free. 300 hardcore fans also managed to secure themselves a copy of the album in a special edition, with a vinyl version, CD and a unique cover, painted by Magne himself. If this way of distributing music is Magne's own contribution to the debate about the music business, is something that we won't touch upon here, and rather just listen to Furuholmen's six new songs.
Melancholic pop-rock
Musically, Magne is operating in the same landscape as on the first album - with a slightly lower singer/songwriter-factor. A Dot Of Black In The Blue Of Your Bliss consists mainly of melancholic pop-rock of classic format. Adult pop, some may call it. Furuholmen shows some improvement as a vocalist - his voice sounds warmer and cleaner this time, even if the multi-artist is wise to avoid any big, vocal challenges.
Coldplay-vibes
The title song that opens the album is a simple pop song that crawls out of its shell and grows after repeated listenings. "Comeback" follows as the second track [sic], and gives, along with "Time And Place", associations to Coldplay, a feeling that sticks throughout the album - and I don't mean that in a negative way.
The weak track "More Than Good Enough" reveals Magne's vocal challenges to a too large extent (and the backup singing is not good), but this is overall a mini album that Furuholmen has every reason to be satisfied with. There are few songs here that will make us die if we don't hear them again, but also none that really hurts the ears.
Review by Lillian Vatnøy.
Translations by Jakob
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