Morten Martens has lived with music for most of his life, even when his name wasn’t on the record sleeves. For more than twenty years, the Norwegian producer worked behind the scenes, shaping other artists’ albums and visions. So it’s hardly surprising that his project Les Imprimés feels thought out – it has been a long time in the making.
You can hear the decades of musical immersion in his music. Like many of his generation, Martens found his way backward through samples, tracing rap records to the old gospel, soul, jazz and funk vinyl that once filled his childhood home. That sense of return saturates his new record Fading Forward (Big Crown Records 2026) – an album about life’s complexities and the lessons they leave behind. “It’s a bit about going into the future and leaving something behind in a way,” he says. Doo-wop songwriting meets hip-hop drums, ’70s soul and melodies that breathe ’90s alternative. It’s a sun-soaked LP, deliberately untethered from time, carrying the weight of years of absorbed grooves.
Les Imprimés is still new territory for Martens, but the project feels more like the culmination of a life spent in music’s service, away from the spotlight. Here he steps in as the lead – singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist. “It’s soul music, but I don’t exactly have the soul voice,” he says. “I do it my own way.”
