At the turn of the millennium, the Norwegian band Madrugada presented a unique complete work, the completion of which was by no means planned for 2007. But the completely unexpected death of guitarist Robert Burås, 31, led to a premature end of the group at the zenith of its orbit. The band was just producing their fifth studio album "Madrugada", which would have opened up completely new perspectives. She finished the CD, but that was far from it.
Let us first take a look far behind this point. Madrugada had emerged in 1995 from the band Abbey's Adoption. Four years later their first album "Industrial Silence" was released, with which they classified themselves stylistically between Nick Cave, Gun Club, Leonard Cohen and archaic blues. The trademark of the band was the deep, sonorous voice of singer Sivert Høyem. He gave the songs wings, led them to distant galaxies and transformed everything earthly. Høyem is one of those singers who only have to hum a single note into the microphone to be recognised.
A series of albums followed at short intervals, with which Madrugada continued to expand their base, both stylistically and in terms of their popularity in and outside Norway. This dark glow between hope and despair, which is appropriately expressed by the band name Madrugada (Spanish for the first light at dawn), was only heard from the Norwegians. Jon Lauvland Pettersen's straightforward drumming, Frode Jacobsen's stoically booming bass and Burås' electric guitar, always in the blues, were congenial additions to Høyem's vocal flights of fancy. Gravity and centrifugal forces always formed a special balance in Madrugada. They were able to step on the gas as much as they could, but there was still a hymn in every one of their songs.
