Album of the Month: November 2024

Hello readers! I’m writing to you as Akina, the Music Director of WPRK, to tell you about an album that we’re loving in the Music Department. Ben, the Assistant MD, came across this album a few weeks before its release and shared it with me. I have to say, great taste on Ben’s part, and a gorgeous job on the part of Frank Hammersland and the supporters that made this album, The Ocean Sleeps Alone Tonight, possible.

Hailing from Bergen, Norway (and being crowned the city’s #1 pop star), Hammersland has been an avid musician for the better part of his 53 years of life. After fronting multiple bands and continuing on with his solo career, he wrote this album during his last few years on this earth.

A posthumous release, this album touched both Ben and I in a way we weren’t quite prepared for. Through it, we feel how music transcends the bounds of life and death. To the sounds of vintage pop, soul and soft rock, Hammersland sings lullabies and love tunes to us from beyond the grave. He reminds us of the beauty of this life, while looming over each song remains the uncertainty of what comes after. It’s a privilege to have listened to something as serene as this, the final effort of one of Norway’s most beloved musicians.