Martin Hagfors I Like You

Strømland Records was founded by Hans-Peter Lindstøm and Joakim Haugland(Smalltown Supersound). The label’s ambition is to be very selective and to only release music that strongly moves the both of us.
When we first heard Hagfors’ latest album we both knew this was one of those albums that this label was created for. Hagfors has finally painted his masterpiece.

Martin Hagfors has a long and impressive track record but I Like You is his pinnacle album. The album is chock full of soaring, super melodic, dreamy psychedelic pop, pared with folk, west coast pop, Americana and hypnotic kraut pop. The album’s producer Lars Horntveth (Jaga Jazzist) also produced Martin’s last album Men And Flies and Susanne Sundfør’s “ The Brothel”. Sundfør adds her beautifully haunting vocals on two of the tracks, Floating From a Dream and Hanging on to Innocence. On this album producer Lars Horntveth really outdoes himself and establishes himself as not only a brilliant arranger but as an exciting producer. He coaxes forth an enchanting, warm and beautiful soundscape. Horntveth says he has in part been inspired by the work of Wilco, Can, Air, The Dragons, Field Music and Beck.

Asked about his inspiration Hagfors quotes; to honest my biggest inspiration was wanting to continue my collaboration with Lars Horntveth and continuing where we left off with Men And Flies. Before starting our work on Men and Flies, Horntveth and I spent several evenings plowing through albums to find common ground on our quest to create a classically orchestrated pop album (Colin Blunstone, Bergen White, Sufjan Stevens, Dr. John, Curtis Mayfield etc) this time around we just wanted to let the songs dictate our direction with a vague idea of creating a somewhat more keyboard oriented electronic sound. Funny thing is the classical harp became one of our key instruments…
Writing the songs, I let myself be inspired by subject matter from my own personal reflections (Not Now, Chewing My Nails, Too Vain to Die, Thick and Thin Skin), love (A Voice Dipped in Honey, I Like You) and misguided politically motivated social injustice (Freedom to the Hounds, Company Oil, Floating from a Dream).
Hanging on to Innocence on the other hand is a snap shot taken from a Brooklyn roof top.

Lars Horntveth says many of the songs were totally transformed. Company Oil started out like a spaghetti western shuffle and ended up as a Robert Wyatt (Soft Machine) inspired dark drone. Other songs like I Like You, Freedom To The Hounds and Thick and Thin Skin were also radically transformed. Absolute freedom and a desire to experiment and go for the unexpected was imperative in our work. Too Vain to Die’s arrangement even drew inspiration from Elton John’s Benny and the Jets! And when Lars wanted another part for Too Vain to Die, he came up with some chords that Martin went home with “ kinda like homework!” and came back with what now became the chorus. So their long collaboration has been taken to another level as co-composers.

Strømland hired the immensely talented artist Kim Hiorthøy to add the finishing touches with a pristine and haunting cover finalizing what we believe to be one of the great albums of 2011.