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I’m very proud and excited to announce that I will be releasing a new full-length solo album in 2019! You can follow the whole process – the writing, recording and mixing of the album right here on my web site. I’ll post news updates, in-depth written features and video clips from the studio.

This weekend we’ve been recording drums for the new album. Once again Henrik Fossum (Airbag) and I returned to Subsonic Society studios where we’ve done drums and mixing of all of the Airbag and my solo albums.

Bjorn Riis - New album 2019

Long-time collaborator, Vegard Sleipnes, who also run the studio, engineered the recordings and he’ll also mix the album in November when, hopefully, all the recordings are done.

As much as I want to evolve and explore new sounds and ways of doing things, I also believe in the fact that there’s no reason to change things if it’s working. We know this studio and Vegard knows us, both what we want and how he can challenge us.

Time and money is obviously a part of the whole production so being able to just come in and put down the tracks in an enviroment that makes you comfortable and relaxed is very important.

Bjorn Riis - New album 2019

All of the demos were completed a couple of weeks ago so we used these as the backingtracks and sort of a guide for Henrik but I also give him total freedom, well… more or less… to come up with ideas and suggestions.

Obviously he knows drums much better than I and part of the reason I choose him for my albums is that I know he’s extremely versatile and creative.

I wanted a slightly different sound this time based on the material that I’ve written so we went for a fairly tight and stripped down kit with a 70s feel in mind.

Bjorn Riis - New album 2019

For some of the stuff we ended up using a 1940s Ludwig kick that has this amazing low end thump. We also experimented with different types of snares and cymbals for each song and certain passages.

Not sure how many mics we ended up using but Vegard loves to just throw a bunch of ambient stuff around the room. I’ve no idea if he ever ends up using them but it looks pretty amazing though!

Next up is recording bass, acoustic guitars, pianos, vocals and of course lead guitars. Stay tuned for more updates!

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