Homecoming

Projekt and Black Tape For A Blue Girl founder Sam Rosenthal collaborates with Norwegian artist Arin Aksberg on five distinctive reinterpretations of Arin’s track “Homecoming.” Featuring recurring melodic themes and instrumentation, these transmutations stretch, re-evaluate, and return to ideas of safety after a long journey.

Twenty-seven-year-old Arin lives north of the Arctic Circle in Alta, Norway. It’s a cold, beautiful, and harsh place of 21,000 residents; living there evokes emotions of longing, desire, and survival. Sixty-year-old Rosenthal lives in Portland, Oregon, influenced less by his surroundings than by his connection to the sonics of art.

In late 2023, Arin sent his album NORDIC PATTERNS to Sam for release on Projekt. Hearing the sequencer-driven track “Homecoming,” Sam asked if he could experiment by adding some melodic lead synthesizer parts to it; this was the first time in a long while that Sam found himself interested in creating music. Arin was excited by the additions and incorporated them into the mix for the album’s early 2024 release. A few months later, Sam suggested, “What if we create a release of reprocessings of that track?” Working individually, they created five auditory evolutions exploring the feeling of returning home.

For “Homecoming (Nostos),” Sam invited Projekt’s other Norwegian artist, Erik Wøllo, to contribute a gritty, rock-driven, expressive electric guitar performance.

1. Homecoming (Edit) — edit by Sam
2. Å komme hjem — reprocessed by Sam
3. Homecoming — original track, mixed by Arin
4. A Return to Home — reprocessed by Arin
5. Homecoming (Nostos) (featuring Erik Wøllo) — reprocessed by Sam
6. Å komme hjem (Half Speed) — re-reprocessed by Sam