''Out of My Hands'' is the fifth studio album and third English-language album by Norwegian
pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Pop music, a musical genre
Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop! (British group), a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Album ...
singer
Morten Harket
Morten Harket (; born 14 September 1959) is a Norwegian singer who is the lead vocalist of the synth-pop band A-ha.
A-ha has released 11 studio albums as of 2024, and topped the charts internationally after their breakthrough hit "Take On Me" i ...
. It was released on April 13, 2012 through
Island Records
Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...
. The album was mainly produced by British
record producer
A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...
Steve Osborne
Stephen John "Steve" Osborne (born 1963) is a British record producer, living in Bath, England. He has worked with a wide variety of musicians, including Suede, the B-52s, A-ha, New Order, Elbow, U2, Happy Mondays, Placebo, Gregory Porter, D ...
, who worked with
a-ha
A-ha (often stylised as ''a''-h''a''; ) is a Norwegian synth-pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. Founded by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars and vocals), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards, guitars and vocals), and Morten Harket (lead vocals), the band ros ...
on their ninth studio album, ''
Foot of the Mountain
''Foot of the Mountain'' is the ninth studio album by the Norwegian synth-pop band A-ha. It was released on 19 June 2009 and reached No. 1 on the German Albums Chart and No. 2 on the Norwegian Albums Chart. In its first week in the UK, the albu ...
'' (2009). The album charted at number one in Norway, becoming the singer's third number-one album there.
Critical reception
Nick Levine of the ''
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
'' gave the album a favourable review, and wrote: "There's a similar dignity to Morten Harket's first solo album since the split. It's a grown-up synth-pop affair featuring songs that vary in pace all the way from a fairly slow mid-tempo to, ooh, a fairly fast mid-tempo. Actually, ''Out of My Hands'' doesn't sound too different from the last few a-ha albums, but it's also fresh enough to recall ''
Echoes'',
Will Young
William Robert Young (born 20 January 1979) is an English singer, songwriter and actor. He came to prominence after winning the 2002 inaugural series of the ITV talent contest '' Pop Idol'', making him the first winner of the worldwide '' Ido ...
's stellar electro-pop LP from last year."
In his review for ''
Daily Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...
'', Simon Gage gave the album three out of five stars writing, "The famous falsetto is still very much in evidence and the songs strong if a little on the dated side with driving guitars and lush orchestrations making it sound remarkably a-ha-esque."
Track listing
;Notes
*
Original Swedish lyrics by Joakim Berg, English lyrics by Morten Harket.
Charts
Release history
References
{{Authority control
2012 albums
Island Records albums
Morten Harket albums
Albums produced by Steve Osborne