The National Bank: The national bank
MIC's Listen to Norway series continues with The National Bank's self-titled debut album.
The National Bank is three things in addition to the place where a nation keeps its gold reserve. It is a record and it is a band, but originally it was neither. Rather it was a commissioned piece of original music to be performed live at the festival called Vestfold Festspillene. However, the team assembled to execute the commission turned out to be such a potent set-up, with such superfluity of talent and creativity, that the rumours of a super-group began circulating even before they knew they were an entity of such kind themselves. Featuring some of Norway’s most celebrated young musicians, as well as highly acclaimed composers and lyricists; The National Bank was bound to be more than a one time live performance whether this was contrived to be so or not. The record manages to unite sophisticated and innovative elements taken from jazz and electronica with timeless qualities of pop composition to create grandly sweeping melodic music. This has made it a favourite among critics, musicians and plain folk alike giving the band a major hit and consolidating the status of its members as the cutting edge of Norwegian popular music
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