Is the Norwegian act Bel Canto planning to release a new album?
The Norwegian electropop / dark pop act Bel Canto has left a rather cryptic message on their Facebook page saying just this: “Ahh summer! Feeling inspired and ready to work, the polar sun gives us enery, esp 3 in the morning! Great things in the making so stay tuned. #gettingthere #belcantotheband”
You would of course think – and especially hope – that the band has finally finished the recordings of the follow-up of the 2002 album “Dorothy’s Victory”.
In March 2007 Side-Line reported that Bel Canto would start work on a new album. This was based on an interview we had with all three original members in Oslo. But this first resurrection was aborted and Geir Jenssen left the band again. The only ‘new’ material would be released in 2009 on the double album package “Maskindans: Norsk synth 1980–1988” that was released on Hommage Records. It holds the previously unheard Bel Canto song, “Flowerbeds”, which dates from 1988.
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, namely to the Belgian label Crammed Discs. The trio 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 succesful solo career as Biosphere. The group had a commercial breakthrough with “Shimmering, Warm and Bright” in 1992 which held a lot of ethnic ingredients fluently mixed with their dark electropop sound.
A few more albums followed: “Magic Box” (1996), “Rush” (French release titled “Images”) (1998), and “Dorothy’s Victory” (2002). In between these albums both Nils Johansen and Anneli Drecker worked on solo material.
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