Don't put our CD in your ear,' advise Norwegian band Babel Fish. The statement would baffle anyone unfamiliar with the work of science fiction writer Douglas Adams. Yet those more erudite in the classic Adams-penned Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy will see the connection. Adams' Babel Fish is 'the oddest thing in the Universe', which, if stuck in your ear, will allow you to understand every possible language.
Odd Jensen, Babel Fish's drummer, is a long-time fan of Adams' work.
Lead vocalist and guitarist Jan van Ravens said: 'We also saw that the possibility of taking the meaning of it further was there. The ultimate translator.' The quartet are adamant to stay true to their moniker. Lyrically they hope to appeal to a wide audience, a rationale partly responsible for their desire to perform in English.
'Our lyrics are mostly very open to interpretation,' said van Ravens, principal songwriter with keyboard player Hal Holter. 'So people can connect those words to their own lives. When I remember songs from before video, I combined them with things I've experienced and what moods I've been in. You have to relate it to your own life.' Many of the group's struggles for a record deal come through on the album. Out Of The Blue, written just after they signed a deal with Atlantic Records, conveys their surprise at their change in fortune, while the more mournful Boyscout Without Eyes touches on 'feeling lost, not being able to do what you really want to do,' said Holter.
That kind of hopelessness is a throwback to their earlier days. Having formed in the late 1980s, Babel Fish finally made an inroad to success with a hit single, Mania, in Norway last year, 10 years after their formation.
In their early days they had no luck peddling demos to record companies in London. They returned to Norway where they performed in Oslo clubs doing covers. Once the cover work started to eat into the time they had for originals, they quit the club scene and started session work.
In this period van Ravens and Holter even worked in a women's prison giving piano lessons. Finally in 1995, under the name Daily Planet, they signed to Oslo-based Waterfall Productions, and after enlisting bass player Simon Malm, released their first single, Light Of Day.