| With Banjo M2M never played in Bergen, but as a solo-artist Marit Larsen has already fallen in love with the city. Next week she plays in Bergen for the second time. It�s just a month since her last visit. Then she was part of the �Lyd I M�rket� tour that took place at Festplassen. Sunny weather and fresh seafood at Fisketorget (the local fish market) made an impression on the girl from L�renskog who is experienced in travelling the world. With her childhood friend Marion Raven, Marit Larsen was about to conquer the world. The two teenagers signed a gigantic contract with Atlantic Records, but things did not turn out the way they had hoped. Four years ago the duo broke up with full media coverage. Now, both have established themselves as solo artists with success. The time in M2M was not only negative � Scary - It was nice to be two when it first started. The music business is big and difficult to handle when you are a 16- or 17-year old. But now she likes the feeling of being alone and making the decisions on her own, without having to compromise. The time since the break-up she has used to develop her own style. Her album came out in March, and now Marit is out on her first ever solo-tour. � The start of the tour took place in Lillestr�m on Friday 21th of April. A real home-win, if we are to believe the Oslo-press. Both VG and Dagbladet gave her five out of six possible. -It was really good to get started, but it was scary to play for so many familiar faces. The whole street was there. Marit Larsen comes from L�renskog, neighbour to Skedsmo where Lillestr�m is the centre, for those not familiar with the geography. Now, she has 43 shows in Norway ahead of her until the end of August. After that she will try her luck abroad once more. And in between she writes new songs with a new record in mind. With her on the tour she has six musicians that handle everything from cello to harmonica and mandolin. She plays both the harmonica and the banjo in addition to the guitar. In Lillestr�m, she was joined by her father Geir Tore Larsen on stage for the first time in her life. But the cello-player from the Philharmonic Orchestra has a too busy schedule to be able to come with her on the tour. She has a solid musical background, her mother is a piano pedagogue and Marit calls herself the black sheep of the family. Free reins Larsen tries to recreate the emotions from the debut album on stage. She is searching for the good melody combined with funny and surprising arrangements. The sounds we hear on the debut �Under the Surface� were created with producer K�re Chr. Vestrheim. Her record company told her to do whatever she wanted, and only dropped by on one occasion to see how things were progressing Marit writes the songs herself. The lyrics are in English. That comes most naturally to her, after years in the USA. Still, she tries to write in Norwegian even though it�s hard. The first test is at her sisters wedding. The wedding takes place in June. So there is just a little more time left until Marit Larsen�s Norwegian debut is a reality. |
| Article thanks to Halvard and www.bt.no |