Naked

The Fortress

Let's Not Start A Fire

Stars Shine On

All This Beauty

Captain Gone - The Fortress - Live At Månefisken 19.02.2016

The seeds of Captain Gone were sown in Leeds, England, where Norwegian vocalist/ guitarist Jon Arne Bjørnstad met English pianist and occasional trumpet player Lyndon Riley and they discovered a shared love of 50s jazz, corny but brilliant pop songs and all the classic songwriters from Cole Porter to Joni Mitchell and beyond.

When Jon returned (and Lyndon relocated) to Norway, their musical partnership evolved, and it wasn't long until they'd recruited Olav Senstad on bass and Eirik Skaar on drums and had started recording demos for what would be their first album, 'A Hundred Nights Like This'. They had to wait a while until Eirik finished training for his passenger airline licence, though - Iron Maiden aren't the only band with a pilot. 

After some low-key gigs, they pestered their way to playing a larger showcase at Soria Moria in Oslo. The concert was less than fantastic, both in terms of performance and audience turnout, but producer Jonas Kroon was in charge of the sound system that night, and he must have heard something he liked, because shortly afterwards the band were booked into his studio and the process of 'becoming' Captain Gone began in earnest. Songs were scrapped, new songs were written, arguments were had, and somewhere along the line, the band found out who they were. The resulting tunes were melancholic, darkly humorous, unashamed songs of love and longing, and packed full of gorgeous harmonies from an age before pop lost its innocence. That first album was released in 2013, and the single 'Romeo' was listed on NRK P1 for several weeks running, while some of the other tracks (Wildflower, Julian) also received nationwide airplay.

A few months later, the band were contacted by a guitarist, Ronny Yttrehus, who said he'd heard the single on the radio and that the only thing lacking from the sound was HIS guitar playing. For a while, he was fobbed off with polite excuses, but when he started turning up at gigs, he became harder to ignore. He was eventually invited to come to a rehearsal and 'try out' for the band. After a run through one song, he was asked, or rather, begged, to join. His inventive playing, which covers everything a guitar can do, from rock to jazz to Eno-style synth washes, was to tighten and toughen up the whole band and inspire a new direction for the recording of album number two, 'The Fortress’.

Now with a couple more years' gigging and studio experience under their belts, Captain Gone are looking forward to releasing The Fortress and taking their new tunes on the road. The album reflects the many hours the band have clocked up playing live and in the studio since their first album - there's a new confidence and swagger evident in their playing, and also in the production and songwriting. The opener 'My Love', seems to start where the first album left off, but takes a sideways shift into totally new territory, and there are plenty of surprises all the way to the last track, 'Stars Shine On', which actually features that most un-Captain Gone of things: an out-and-out rock guitar solo. Never say never...

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