Steinar Albrigtsen first saw the light of day in Hammerfest, Finnmark, where his introduction to music extended well beyond Norway’s shores. Because his father earned his living at sea, the singer regularly encountered recordings gathered from distant ports during the elder Albrigtsen’s returns home.
By the opening years of the 1980s the younger Albrigtsen had committed himself wholly to a livelihood in music. Although the route proved uneven, marked by repeated setbacks and advances, the perseverance paid off when he issued his debut album, Alone Too Long, in 1990. Two years later came his follow-up, Bound to Wander, which was succeeded in 1993 by Big Storm Comin’ and, the next year, by The Troubadour. Life is Good, his fifth release, reached listeners in 1996; before the decade ended he completed one further collection, Now & Then.
Among the songs that appear across these recordings are “Habit of My Heart,” “Standin’ by the Waterfall,” “Beginning of the End,” “I Can't Get Close to You,” and “Still One Broken Heart.” To shape the precise textures he sought, Albrigtsen enlisted a range of accomplished session players, among them bassist Svein Aarbostad, violinists Anne Strengehagen and Andre Orvik, harpist Tone Hulbaekmo, drummer Rune Arnesen, and pianist Per Kolstad.
