Description
EVEN SMITH WERGELAND // SEIGMEN – TOTAL – NABOK057
In October 1994 came the album that lifted Seigmen up from the gothic underground to the Norwegian mainstream. Total , recorded in Studio Nova at Spydeberg with the legendary Sylvia Massy as producer, sold well and convinced the reviewers. Most agreed that it was dark, mysterious and monumental. But was it rock or was it heavy? And why so endlessly sad and gloomy? These questions are central to the book, which takes a closer look at the recording of the album, its reception and its aftermath. The actual sound image on Total , which has something very typical of the time and at the same time timeless about it, is absolutely essential in this respect. Through recent conversations with Sylvia Massy and Robert Opsahl-Engen, who ran Studio Nova, memories are reconstructed from the three weeks in 1994, when one of the world's most sought-after producers sat behind a mixing desk in Østfold suburbia. The book also portrays Studio Nova, which lives on under the name Velvet Recordings.
The book's author, Even Smith Wergeland, is a teacher and researcher at the School of Architecture and Design in Oslo, specializing in architectural history. He is currently writing a book on sound studio architecture, Sonic Heritage: The Architecture and Geography of Sound Studios , to be published by Routledge.