Official Biography Ace of Base Page 2
In the early autumn of 2002, the band returns with a new album, Da Capo - They’re first with all-new material since "Flowers/Cruel Summer" (1998). The new album combines the group’s classic pop sound with new, more thoughtful dimensions.
"Ever since our last original album was released, we've had our minds set on making this album. People may have thought that we have split up, but those things rather apply to the rest of the music business", Jenny smiles, referring to the last few years acquisitions and mergers among the major labels. Something that without a doubt has slowed down the process of finishing the album.
"The lion's share of the album has been finished for quite a while", main songwriter Jonas "Joker" Berggren confides, but you tend to come up with more stuff as time passes, and some mixes tend to feel a bit old when you've lived with them for a couple of years. Making pop music is a little bit like painting, you can keep adding stuff forever, but at some point you have to decide that you’re done with it. A lot of time is spent working on details that the general public usually don't notice anyway". In order to find the right balance of styles, quite a few producers have been enlisted: Swedes Jonas Von Der Burg, Harry Sommerdahl at Pile Studios and Pontus Söderqvist, Martin Hedström and Nick Nice at LaCarr have produced as well as co-written with Jonas Berggren. Other producers include German producers Axel Breitung and Thorsten Brötzmann. During the four years it took to finalize this album, the band wrote more then 150 songs, of which the 11 strongest songs plus the cover song "Wonderful Life" was chosen to become the final album listing. Jonas has written a few songs himself and a few with the band. "It was a great way to rediscover each other as people and writers after a long break from writing together" says Jenny Berggren.