Fredrik Saroea Rona Diaries/Rona Diaries: The Chamber Versions Live At The Grieg Hall, Bergen

Fredrik Saroea is best known as the frontman of Norway's bizarre, global pisco punk sensation – Datarock. After years touring the world with alternative bangers such as "Fa-Fa-Fa" he now presents an entirely different side to his songwriting: As Covid-19 shut down live music, Saroea started recording in their label YAP Records' studio –yap HQ in Bergen (Norway) – with Datarock drummer Øyvind Solheim helping out engineering & co-producing. The 12 songs jammed in on the 28 minute long album was also mixed by Solheim & Saroea at YAP HQ, and then shipped to UK's legend Mike Marsh (Björk, Massive Attack, Oasis, Datarock) for mastering. The solo album Rona Diaries was inspired by everything from post-rock (like The Sea and Cake) via hard-core (like Fugazi), noise-rock (like U.S. Maple), space-rock (like Flying Saucer Attack), art-rock (like Blonde Redhead) to Morrissey's indie-classics, Sun Kil Moon's lyrical songwriting, John Martyn's etheric "Small Hours" and Scott Walker's ballads. The Release concert took place on May 28th 2021 with an internationally streamed concert in Norway's stately Grieg Hall – famous for the most iconic true Norwegian black metal recordings. Here, Saroea was backed by award-winning string quartet Bit20 Ensemble (Martin Shultz on violin, Liene Klava on viola, Agnese Rugevica on cello, Johannes Wik on harp with arrangements by Bjørn Morten Christophersen), merging his contemplative indie rock with the exquisite air of a chamber orchestra. Thus, the tracks from Rona Diaries were premiered to an unsuspecting public who were more familiar with his former band’s rhythmic brand of dance music. Featured in "Best Of" lists from Rolling Stone to NME and headlining festivals from Coachella, Lollapalooza, Reading and Leeds, Saroea's band Datarock impacted music scenes worldwide while also infiltrating both the videogame market with inclusion in Fifa and Sims and the commercial environ with ads for Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung and Coca Cola. While their singles including the smash "Fa-Fa-Fa" cemented them as dance sensations, Saroea moonlighted as a restaurateur by opening world famous and Michelin-rated restaurants Lysverket and Hoggorm in Norway. Rona Diaries: The Chamber Versions Live At The Grieg Hall, Bergen includes chamber versions of the Rona Diaries tracks plus two exclusive tracks. It was recorded by Kings of Convenience' sound engineer – André Luciano Trebbi – and mixed in Los Angeles by the two-time Grammy® winner Mark Rankin (Adele, Weezer, Florence and the Machine, Harry Styles) and mastered by Mike Marsh in the UK. The album artwork was created by renowned artist Magnus Voll Mathiassen who worked on Rihanna’s Unapologetic and 2021’s Oscars.