Day 323: a-ha – Hunting High & Low

I was watching a video of our new Foreign Secretary doing an a-ha themed skit today and thought you know, I’ve never actually listened to a full a-ha album. I’m not even sure I’ve ever heard a song by them that’s not “Take on Me”, which probably legally means that I’m not allowed to call myself a fan of ‘80s pop, the policeman from Village People might come arrest me. Therefore I simply had to listen to debut album, Hunting High & Low.

Album cover courtesy of Warner

a-ha was formed in 1982 in Oslo by singer Morten Harket, guitarist Paul Waaktaa and keyboardist Magne Furuholmen. They moved to London that same year to try to make it as a group, but they were running into roadblocks and not really getting too far at first – when they were meant to sign a deal with Lionheart, only one band member made it to the meeting, as Mags had gone to jail for having a drunk misadventure, while Paul was at the police station trying to get him out.

The contract with Lionheart was also not as good as it seemed and there didn’t seem to be money or support for the group, so they left the publishing house and went back to Norway to earn more money. Eventually they recorded demos, got a manager and signed a new record deal. However, when they released "Take On Me", it failed to chart in the UK. They ended up re-recording it and releasing it again, and it’s didn’t chart. Ahead of the single’s release in the US, they commissioning the now-iconic animated music video, and the song finally took off.

Their debut album Hunting High & Low was released in 1985, and it became a global hit, earning them a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. It sold more than 11 million copies and ended up being their biggest album to date. The group have since released eleven albums in total, most recently in 2024, but so far none of them have garnered as much attention as their debut.

I keep forgetting that this group is Norwegian, then I say “oh, I never knew that” and then I’m reminded that I very much have heard that before but I forgot. It’s one of those facts that just leave your head immediately, I think it’s because I just don’t associate the Norwegian disposition with synth-pop – I say this with nothing but love as a fellow Nordic. But a-ha are synth pop extraordinaires.

I think a key part where synth pop sometimes falters a bit is that when it’s not that good, it can be a bit one-dimensional, but Hunting High & Low is not that. There’s something a bit more sophisticated to it than I originally thought, having only heard “Take On Me”, and while it’s not a dark album there’s more darkness to it than I originally expected.

It’s not my favourite synth pop album of all time, but it’s honestly not too far from it. I think I’ll definitely reach them again in the future, I had a good time listening to this. It’s a bummer that they’re viewed as such a one hit wonder, it’s a decent album as a whole, especially as a debut. “The Blue Sky” and "Living a Boy's Adventure Tale" are my personal high points. Hunting High & Low gets a very reasonable 8.5/10.