Bel Canto working on new album with young Norwegian producer Matias Tellez

In June we informed you that the Norwegian electropop / dark pop act Bel Canto was working on the follow-up of the 2002 album “Dorothy’s Victory”. It’s now clear they also took the Norwegian producer and mixer Matias Tellez on board.

Matias Tellez runs the recording and mixing facility Skogen Studio at Bergen Kjøtt in his home city Bergen, Norway. He is one of the many young artists that the Norwegian press have called the Bergen Wave. Besides solo work and recording with his band Young Dreams, Matias has also worked as a producer, mixer and arranger for fellow New Bergen Wave bands Kakkmaddafakka, Sondre Lerche, Razika, Chain Wallet and Real Ones, as well as Girl in Red and Veps.

In 2020 he was awarded Spellemannprisen as the producer of the year for his work with Girl in Red, Sondre Lerche, Kakkmaddafakka and others.

Below are two screenshots from a mixing dession.

Bel Canto was formed in 1985 in Tromsø by Geir Jenssen (synthesizer, programming), Nils Johansen (synthesizer, violin, bass guitar, guitar) and vocalist Anneli Drecker. The group was one of the first Norwegian bands to sign a record contract abroad. They moved to Brussels in 1986 and had their debut album “White-Out Conditions” released by Crammed Discs the following year.

After a second album, “Birds of Passage” (1990), Jenssen left the band for a solo career as Biosphere. The group had a commercial breakthrough with “Shimmering, Warm and Bright” in 1992, and won the Spellemannprisen award twice, in 1992 and 1996. Their style evolved over time from an ethereal dream pop sound to synth-based pop influenced by world music.

During the years from 1985 to 2009, Bel Canto occasionally took breaks between albums in order for Anneli Drecker to pursue a solo career and to perform with other bands and artists, as well as performing in films and theater plays. Nils Johansen composed music for film and television as well as working and performing with his other band, Vajas.

Back in March 2007 we reported that Bel Canto would start work on a new album in its original line-up after we interviewed Geir, Nils and Anneli in Oslo right after a reunion concert. However that album was shelved. The band returned to being a duo but in 2017 Anneli Drecker told Side-Line that the band was keen to possibly record new songs.

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Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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