Music
Press
"...singer Aggie Peterson and "blipster" Per Martinsen create a doleful, chic sound of some spangeled beauty. (...)Wintry but warm, and very well crafted." - NME
"Frost is such a band, ’Melodica’ such an album, and singer Aggie Peterson such a femme fatale. (...) the adjectives could go on and on." - Time Out, London
"Norwegian electro-pop at its purest (she's the totty who sings, he's the be-masked bloke on keyboard at the back) from the same bloke who produces those brilliant, off-kilter Mental Overdrive records. 'One Hundred Years' is uplifting and trance-like – like The Knife's 'Silent Shout' stripped of its dark veil and taken to a Paul Van Dyk gig. There's more remixes than we could shake a stick at, so for space's sake skip to the Mental Overdrive ('Hypnotic Tango' on Mitsubishis) and Kompis (downbeat, pensive) versions." (Magic Jase). - International DJ Magazine
5 stars out of 5
RECOMMENDED
"No-one does synth pop better than the Scandinavians. Never cheesy, it's always got the perfect balance of underground cool and life-affirming charm. This is a classic example and it's quite possibly the finest track of its ilk since Annie's 'Greatest Hit'. The three remixes, including an awesome intro'd one from Mental Overdrive, are all suitable exquisite." (JT) - International DJ Magazine
"When Femme Digitale Aggie Peterson + producer Per Martinsen (aka Mental Overdrive) aren’t staging art shows for babies, writing dystopian ‘transmedia’ novels or composing scores for silent movies, they’re making icily-warm, analog-synth-pop as Frost, such as their new single ‘The Woods’, released on 17th October and celebrated with a ‘From Norway With Love’ party at The Lexington, 5th October, with Boshka and DJ Rune Lindbæk. Plus Frost of course. It’s their party.
We’re very pleased to be the first to announce and host this single.
Go listen." - Ja Ja Ja (October 2011)
“…an electronica duo out of Tromsø that dig their kitten heels and drum pads into a chugging nu-wave soundscape of floating vocals over rhythmically pulsating synth backing, that quite stirs our analogue heart and electro head - as it’s something a little different, something a little a like our own Queen Of Hearts in similarity to Alison Goldfrapp that echoes back in time to the new romantic era. “
“Key point here is, Frost is defining something diverse in the current electronica soundscape and we applaud it.”
- EQ (October 2011)
“The drum-heavy live sound adds va-va-voom to their electropop and by the second number, “My Plastic Heart”, they’ve hit their stride with Peterson dancing like Cleopatra and relaxing.”
“It’s a luscious song, a real treat comparable to the wonderful Ladytron’s recent work.” (about the woods)
“One Hundred Years’ features a spectacular operatic vocal from Peterson and “Parade” brings out a smidgeon of dubstep bass, then it’s into the final streak with “Sleepwalker” (…) The version is delivered at techno ramming speed and concludes a fine feisty performance to a small but devoted crowd.”
- The Arts Desk (October 2011)
“… it is four whole minutes of electro-pop deliciousness. They like to describe themselves as ‘cool synth-pop with analogue warmth,’ and this pretty much just perfectly hits the nail on the head. Peterson’s crystal clear vocals skate icily and delicately over the warmer tones of a pulsating beat and twinkling, dreamy synth melodies. Simply divine.” - Planet Notion (October 2011)
Discography
RADIOMAGNETIC
Album: to be released Sept 18th, 2012.
EP: The Woods remixes: date tba
Single: The Woods, Oct.17th 2011
Single: The Magician, Sept. 1st 2011
Remix by Boska
Single: Parade, May 17th 2011
Remxes by Biosphere and Jori Hulkkonen
SingleMy Plastic Heart, 2008.
Remix by Plastic Operator.
LOVE! REVOLUTION!
Album, Love! Revolution!, 2007.
Single, One Hundred Years, 2007.
Remixes by Skatebård, Cato Canari, Mental Overdrive, Kompis.
Single, Sleepwalker, 2006.
Remixes by Mental Overdrive, Aggie Peterson, Rune Lindbæk.
MELODICA
Album, Melodica, 2003 (USA, Europe)
Album, Melodica, 2002. (Norway)
Single and vinyl 12", Amygdala, 2003.
Remixes by Mind over Midi, Qwerty, Atom TM and Mental Overdrive.
ENDLESS LOVE
Single and vinyl 12", Endless Love, 1999.
BEDSIT THEORIES
Album, Bedsit Theories, 1998.
Remixes by Røyksopp, Chilluminati and Ingar og Tom-Rudi.
Singles, Clouds Across the Moon, Close to You and Hope You'll be there.
Photos
Bio
FROST
is the musical project of creative couple Aggie Peterson and Per Martinsen. They’ve released two albums as a duo (“Melodica” in 2001 and “Love! Revolution!” in 2006) and a dozen singles and remixes. They have toured as Frost all over from Paris to London via Tokyo and Glomfjord.
Between them they've dabbled in a variation of projects, such as staging art shows for babies (Aggie), writing dystopian 'transmedia' novels (Per), composing scores for silent movies (both), building sub-bass driven laser installations (Per) and putting up stage performances with strange, blonde alter-egos (Aggie).
Aggie has also starred in various movie shorts, and Per has a long career as a producer of underground dance music under his moniker Mental Overdrive, releasing records for R&S, Smalltown Supersound and Full Pupp - as well as his own Love OD Communications.
Frost are available for booking. Contact Christian Øygarden: chris@frostnorway.no for more info.
RADIOMAGNETIC
IIn 1999, the Russian settlement of ????????, or "The Pyramid", as it would be called by the Norwegian administrative authorities, suddenly turned into a ghost town almost overnight. Where around 1000 people (mostly Russian miners) had lived and worked since the settlement was sold to the Soviet Union by Sweden back in 1927, there was now a complete silence.
The dry climate of the Spitsbergen arctic desert has since preserved facilities such as The Pyramid's own school, swimming pool, football ground and hospital remarkably well. You can even find toys on the floor of the nursery that the kids had to leave behind in the midst of play, as the Russian authorities ordered an immediate evacuation of the place.
In the years that followed, some strange radio signals started to appear across the shortwave AM band in the populated areas within the Arctic Circle. In these transmissions, wonderful pop music could be heard beneath the static. Between songs, a deep and melancholic male voice announced the music in Russian.
Nobody knew where these signals were coming from, until a Russian radio amateur recorded the signals, and traced them back to the exact coordinates of the now unpopulated Pyramid.
In 2008, after re-locating to their native Tromsø to "monitor the melting of the ice-cap", Per and Aggie received an envelope covered with Russian stamps.
Inside was an old C60 cassette tape labeled ????? ????????? ("Radio Magnetic" in Russian), and a letter from the analogue-loving radio enthusiast, stating that he had seen Frost perform their soundtrack to the Russian silent movie “Mother” in Arkhangelsk some years earlier, and that he thought this recording might be of interest.
Per and Aggie immediately unpacked their old cassette tape deck, put the tape on, and discovered the beautiful music it contained – the music of a ghost radio filtered through static and time, like faint echoes from a recently lost civilization.
The whole phenomenon was the most haunting experience, and this tape has been the main inspiration during the writing and recording of the new album - taking a look at alternative, electronic pop through a 2012 lens.
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