- It would have been madness to say that I wouldn't have done it again, Lene Marlin says.
- Perhaps I would have done things a bit differently, but I would have done it again. I have gotten so many friends, is a part of a wonderful environment, is living a nice life, and have gotten so many experiences I never would have had without the musical career, Lene Marlin smiles in Summer-Oslo.
Two years have passed since the previous album, "Lost In A Moment". No larger press entries, no new songs, no concerts.
- What have you been doing since the last time?
- He-he, I've been here, me. Walking about the streets, been living, writing songs. People are asking me why I have been away again, but I haven't been away. I just don't like to be talking about things before they happen. It's so wonderful taking things with an ease, letting people just do their speculations.
- Felt right
And now there is something happening - Lene Marlin is contributing on the vocals for the Swiss Lovebugs' single "Avalon".
- I'm indeed in a privileged situation, can be choosing what I want to be doing, and when I want to be doing it. Whether it's a Swiss band wanting me on their record, or someone wanting me to be playing at the Døgnvill Festival in Tromsø.
- Why did you say yes to Døgnvill?
- It just felt right. And then I'd do it. It's a nice time to be playing, August, and it's Tromsø. That helped a lot on the decision, I have to say, that it was in Tromsø.
- You haven't been playing in Norway since the concert in Tromsø Hall in 2004?
- That's correct. December 2004.
- At Alfheim, there could easily be showing up 10.000 - 15.000 people?
- Then it must be so! It will be great playing in Tromsø again, Lene Marlin smiles.
Loves to be writing
Songs she still is writing, among others will the soul-queen Rihanna be recording a song Lene Marlin has contributed to.
- Yes, I'm writing all the time. At least when I'm inspired. I'm totally dependent on being able to be creative. I love to write.
- In contrast to standing on a stage?
- Yes, I do like that as well - when I'm actually there!
- And with all the songwriting there will perhaps be a new album soon?
- No, I have no plans of doing that. At least not now. That will have to come when it comes. It has to fit in - the creative process must be allowed to do it's thing.
- Will Lene Marlin become more of a songwriter and less of an artist in the future?
- I don't know, I take things as they go. However, as I see it now, I certainly will be a songwriter longer than I'd be an artist.
10-year jubilee this year
This year, there are 10 years since Lene Marlin got a record deal.
- That I'm able to sit here as a 26-year-old, and be celebrating some kind of 10-year anniversary, feels totally incredible - and strange. It has been a fantastic time, she says.
However, as most people know; also a hard wrestle.
- Indeed it has, but it feels good now, to be sitting here and see that it has gone well. I'm pleased and more relaxed now. I look at things differently, also the past.
- How so?
- I haven't always managed to see the future as this. When it all rages around you, it's easy becoming paranoid. I remember thinking I would never get a new friend again, that I wouldn't be able to relax together with people again. I wondered if it would ever come back; that I could be calm again, says Lene Marlin.
- Then it's really good when it happens. I'm calm now. Relaxed.
- Does the past give you good feelings?
- Yes, I have been privileged, and it has been a fantastic time. And sometimes I'm hearing the old songs on the radio. It feels great. I still find pleasure in that, and then I go straight back to that time, the memories are pouring in.
- And it's not embarrassing hearing the older songs now?
- No, I'm smiling and enjoying myself even now, when I'm hearing "Sitting Down Here" and the other songs.
Additional story about the track "Avalon":
- Lene has made the song so much better
The Swiss Lovebugs released last year their ninth album - with help from Lene Marlin on the single "Avalon".
- We have known her music since the debut record in 1998, and have been fans. Since then, we have wanted to have her with us, so we sent her a mail, says the group's founder, Adrian Sieber.
Lene Marlin hadn't heard about the group when the mail popped up, but fired up on the idea immediately.
- The most easy decision to make. There were so many who said to me that "they are sounding just like you, only that they're five boys who are playing a bit more roughly". So I heard the song once, and decided quickly that our voices would fit together. Two weeks later, I was in Zürich recording the song, she smiles.
- And it really feels good being part of a band. Being a solo artist may be a bit lonely at times.
Lovebugs is a school band that became huge in Switzerland, who were warming up for Rolling Stones last year, and are now doing it well in Germany, and hopefully in Norway. The album "In Every Waking Moment" will be out on June 18 in this country.
- It often functions best when it's spontanous, as in this case. Without it going through several record companies, says Sieber.
- What do you know about Norwegian music?
- We have heard about a-ha, of course, our juvenile idols. And Madrugada, and Röyksopp.
- Northern Norwegian they as well?
- Yes, it has to be something about the lack of light, that you're playing music there all the time.
- I have been telling them about the light and the darkness in Northern Norway, Lene Marlin is laughing.
- What kind of status do they have in Switzerland?
- They are really great there. And the last record of theirs have sold 40.000 copies, something which is a lot in Switzerland, says Lene Marlin.
- And what kind of status does Lene have in Switzerland?
- She has a great status there, and even greater now, after this. And every time I'm out doing shopping, I'm hearing Lene Marlin from the speaker in the store.
- How about a Tromsø trip?
- That we'll be happy to do! Norway is really a stretched out country. I'm wondering how they in the really old times knew that north and south was the same country?
