big babies
egil olsen has been touring and releasing albums since the beginning of the 2000s. with his “beyond beautiful songs” and unique and entertaining live shows, he's become a cult favorite and claimed “one of norway's very best songwriters” and “the funniest and most peculiar artist we have”. aside from the double live album 'live' (2018) and the double rarity collection 'rare' (2019), ‘big babies’ is his first album in five years.
«i've had this album floating around in my head for a while. it's been a long, slow and painful birth. the album is, after all, called big babies, so i guess it kind of makes sense. good to finally get it out.»
egil olsen teamed up with some of the greatest jazz musicians he knew on this record. henrik lødøen on drums, martin morland on upright bass and jesse heckman and vidar sæther on clarinets. the title track also features his two little boys and his wife on, according to the album cover, backing vocals, boohooin and cryin.
«most of the songs are relatively simple piano songs, but i wanted this album to sound more jazzy. a few times it got a little out of hand, there's even a song in five, and several chords i can't name. i can hardly play them!»
another guest on the album is one of egil olsen's favorite artists, british-american singer/songwriter, nellie mckay. after opening for her at hotel cafe in los angeles a few years ago, the two ended up in a studio outside of new york, in the pocono mountains.
«most of the album is recorded in 2021-22, but the vocals for the duet with nellie mckay, was actually recorded in 2019. it scares me that i made her sing “we're supposed to be exposed and not live in quarantine”. and this was long before covid! who am i? some sort of antivax nostradamus?»
«it's a perfect song! it's like classical music!» says nellie mckay.
the album is mainly recorded in egil olsen's new home, a 200-year-old courthouse on the coast of norway. after the king of norway sold the house to private owners in the beginning of the 1900s, it's been home to a lot of art and music, and comes with a lot of history and a lot of stories.
«i have my studio in the attic, and we have a little venue downstairs, in the old courtroom, where we host monthly live shows. several national and international jazz legends have set foot and played here in the past. chet baker visited in the 80s! he allegedly said, 'with a view like this, i wouldn't need drugs'. the view is nice, but i've actually covered the windows in my studio. sorry chet, i like it dark.»
with big babies, egil olsen looks at himself and the world from above. he observes the human being from the beginning (every baby is born without a clue, a wise man once said gaga googoo) to the end (i've got limited time left now, i'm running out of life), and explores the darkness and the light in the chaos we live in, while either sitting on the fence in trail of breadcrumbs or laying low in the eye of the hurricane in eating ourselves. the darkness and the light are literally in harmony on the nellie mckay-duet 'you be the darkness you be the light'.
track list
01. intro (mouths to feed preprise)
02. mouths to feed
03. parasite
04. big babies
05. eating ourselves
06. hold on
07. oh deer
08. trail of breadcrumbs
09. don’t be a tool
10. you be the darkness you be the light
11. playin games
12. con’t complain
13. whoopsie daisy
14. outro (whoopsie daisy reprise)
egil olsen
vocals, pianos, guitars, drums and tricks
martin morland
bass
henrik lødøen
drums
jesse heckman and vidar sæther
clarinets
featuring nellie mckay
vocals and piano on 10
also featuring karen, balder leonard and brage rasmus rosenberg olsen vocals on 04 and kevin steinman vocals on 13.
written and produced by egil olsen at spngar/songskrivargarden in volda, norway. additional recordings at ocean sound recordings at giske, off the grid at nesodden and red rock recording in the pocono mountains, usa. recorded and mixed by egil olsen with additional recordings by henning svoren at ocean sound recordings and kent heckman at red rock recording. mastered by espen høydalsvik at oslo:fuzz. artwork by egil olsen.
”much love to my wife and my boys, and our late great dogs fender and hellboy. i miss you both. a warm thank you to my brother and sister, my mom and my dad. thanks to my friends and my fellow music people. special thanks to the heckman family and robin pappas. a big thanks to kulturrådet and to tekstforfatterfondet for the support. last, but not least, thank you!”