Savoy

Savoy came together in 1994 as a Norwegian-American indie rock trio when Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, formerly known as Pål Waaktaar from a-ha, teamed up with his wife Lauren Waaktaar-Savoy, previously Lauren Savoy, to handle vocals, songwriting, and guitar. Drummer and multi-instrumentalist Frode Unneland completed the lineup.

Warner Bros. put out the group’s first album, Mary Is Coming, in 1996, and it found commercial traction in Norway before EMI followed with Lackluster Me the next year. Although Savoy originated during an a-ha break, the European synth-pop group resumed activity in 1998, after which Paul Waaktaar-Savoy balanced writing, recording, and touring commitments between the two projects for the ensuing six years.

The band earned Spellemann Awards, Norway’s equivalent of the Grammys, for Best Pop Band with its third and fourth releases, Mountains of Time in 1999 and Reasons to Stay Indoors in 2001, both on EMI. The self-titled fifth album appeared on Eleventeen Records and reached the Norwegian Albums chart’s Top Ten in 2004. In 2005 a-ha mounted its first sold-out North American show since 1986 at Irving Plaza in New York City and drew 120,000 people to Frogner Park in Oslo. While Waaktaar-Savoy focused on new songs and live work with a-ha, Universal released the 2007 compilation Savoy Songbook, Vol. 1, which also entered Norway’s Top Ten.

Paul Waaktaar-Savoy hinted at fresh Savoy recordings over subsequent years, and the trio finally reconvened in the studio during the mid-2010s. Ahead of that return, he collaborated with singer Zoë Gnecco, daughter of Ours’ Jimmy Gnecco, under the name Waaktaar & Zoë, issuing World of Trouble in early 2017. That November Savoy unveiled the single “Night Watch,” setting the stage for its first studio album since 2004, See the Beauty in Your Drab Hometown, which Drabant Music released in January 2018.