Dear friends,
We’ve reached our first days off since we started the autumn season back
in August. The recording of the new album combined with a lot of concert touring
has kept us constantly on the road or in the studio. It’s been busy, but
the good part is that we have even more to write about!
PRODUCTION
You know already that we started the recording of our new album in Ireland in
June. After a few weeks off in July we continued to record in August. The second
part of recording took us to Denmark. For those of you who have been following
us for a while, will know that PUK studio is a familiar place for us. This is
the third time we go back to this quiet and isolated studio in the middle of
the country. It’s such an inspiring and undisturbed place to work. While
most of the Irish musicians recorded their parts in Grouse Lodge, this time
we brought down the Norwegian players. The last week was mostly solo violin
for Fionnuala. The studio has a beautiful room for violin sound with a warm,
wooden acoustic. It’s a studio where you don’t really work by the
clock. The schedule is entirely run by creativity, ideas and enthusiasm. Meals
are served and you’re just looked after in the best way possible. Hopefully
these perfect conditions also reflect the work we did.
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Last year we had the privilege of meeting the renowned sound engineer Alan Mayerson. His work consists of recording and mixing films like The Last Samurai, Pirates of the Caribbean, King Arthur to mention a few of his latest. This meeting was the main reason to return to Los Angeles and work with him for the mixing of the album. We are very pleased and excited with the way things turned out. On one of the new songs “Always there” we also worked with a local gospel choir in Los Angeles.
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CHINESE TOUR After finishing the mix we had a two-day turnaround back home, to change clothes and prepare for a 5-week tour of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. To be honest, we are exhausted, but very pleased with how the tour turned out. A series of 18 concerts brought us through most of the southeastern territories – from Shanghai in the east to Kunming in the west. Even if we’ve done concerts in all the major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Haungzhou before it was particularly interesting this time to visit so many new places for the first time – Nan Jing, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Kunming. In addition to the normal Secret Garden concert program, we had the famous Chinese erhu player (Chinese 2-string violin) Bian Liunian with us as guest artist. He performed some of our music and we performed 2 of his songs with him. In Hong Kong we shared the stage with Ding Fei Fei - also an erhu player. Some of you will remember we recorded with her last year on her newest album – “Origin”.
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Two years ago we visited Taiwan for the release of Once In A Red Moon. On our last day there, an enormous earthquake registering 6.8 hit the island. It was terrifying, as we had not experienced one before. On the first day of returning to Taiwan now we experienced a new one. This time 7.1 on Richter’s scale! This was the their first earthquake since our last visit!! Fortunately there was no major damage, but Secret Garden’s earthquake record is pretty impressive!
The concerts were all sold out with concert halls from 2000 to 4000 capacity. Needless to say we were very surprised by the enormous interest and support. A signing crowd of 6-700 people waited for 2 hours after the concert in Taiwan. The soreness from signing can’t take away the gratitude and respect for all the support. There are already talks about returning soon.
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NEW SECRET
GARDEN ALBUM - EARTHSONGS
The
last couple of weeks have been spent finalising the album. The last tweaks on
the mastering and on the cover with photos, liner notes, credits and even putting
together the final running order are all important details that takes a lot
of care and time. As we write this journal the last proof reading is done and
the CD and the cover will soon be in production. In case you wonder –
yes, we are excited. It’s a two-year process of getting to where we are
now with the writing, the demos, the arranging, the planning and the recording.
It’s always with a mixed emotion when we arrive at this point, because
we must part with a work that has filled our heads and emotions for so long.
But at the same time we look forward to turning the page and hearing your feedback
on the album.
It will first be released in Norway at the end of November, and in all other territories after Christmas. The release dates will all vary according to the individual territories. All these details will be posted on our website as we receive the information. We don’t want to talk too much about the album yet. We will come back to it in a while, but we will give you the title of the album – EARTHSONGS.
Finally, just to let you know that Secret Garden T- shirts are available in our web shop and we are having a special pre-Christmas campaign if any of you are thinking of some early Christmas shopping to get some great bargains. Please visit our web shop and find out more.
Love from,
Fionnuala and Rolf
