TIMELINE

1979

Forms the experimental rock group Identity. Publishes the magazines The Pill no. 1 and 2. Records his first complete work, the tape Et Aar som Nygifte i Paris’ Kloakker (“A Year as Newly Wed in the Sewers of Paris”), a title never released but often referred to as his first production.

1980

Identity becomes Ballet Mécanique and Hall makes his record debut with the single Avenues of Oblivion. Works with words and graphics as well as film, video and dancers in relation to the band’s multimedia concerts. Releases the tapes 1st – 18th and Den triumferende Amor (“The Triumphant Cupid”). Performs at the Gammel Kongevej 13 AB project with his elektronic duo Dialogue, a thee-day festival featuring art, music and theatrical performances. Forms the legendary Danish rock group Before with the singer and poet Fritz “Fatal” Bonfils. Exhibits visual art and plays with Ballet Mécanique at the NÅ-80 arrangement, another three-day festival featuring young upcoming artists. Publishes the magazines Consumer’s Guide to Welfare part 1, part 2 and part 3 as well as contributing to several issues of Iklipsx, a Danish post-punk art and music magazine.

1981

Publishes the magazine Consumer’s Guide to Stupidity. Ballet Mécanique collaborates with Danish performance theatre group Billedstofteateret at Fortropper, a line of events also including poet and critic Poul Borum. Releases the tape Uden Titel (“Untitled”). Arranges and performs at The Art and Music Triangle Project, an event that also features avant-garde performers No Knox (an ensemble that Hall subsequently joins as a musician between 1981 to 1982). Contributes to the anthology Platform. Makes his album debut with Ballet Mécanique’s The Icecold Waters of the Egocentric Calculation, a record that is still regarded as a cornerstone in contemporary Danish music history (figures on the list over the 50 most important releases in Danish rock ever in Politiken’s highly esteemed rock encyclopedia). Writes the music for the film Nattens Engel (”Angel of the Night”) with Danish poet Michael Strunge. Forms the fusion group Pesteg Dred, a band continually mutating in form, expression and members (at one point including Danish painter Peter Bonde). Contributes to the cassette and magazine release Vietato ai Minori released by the Italian label Trax, a compilation featuring new European composers.

1982

Forms the highly experimenting theatre group The Art Ensemble of Copenhagen with whom he performs the show Giv Folket Brød, Vi Spiser Kage (”Give the People Bread, We’ll Have Cake”) in April. During the same month Ballet Mécanique and Billedstofteateret perform a new version of their collaboration Forben originally performed at the Fortropper arrangement a year earlier. Performs on and contributes to the international Traxtra album project alongside other experimenting composers from all over the world. Releases the album For with Ballet Mécanique in the autumn at which point the group is terminated. Forms his new ensemble Under For that performs with a classical line-up of cello, violin and harp.

1983

Makes his debut as a writer with The Recreation Is Greater, a book that arouses equal amounts of excitement and furore at the time of its release being “one of the most incomprehensible Danish books ever written”, quote-unquote. Releases his first record as a solo artist, the 12″ mini album Ritual featuring three compositions for strings and percussion. Admitted to The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (Schools of Visual Arts) in Copenhagen. Performs his composition Inskription in the Danish National Radio, a concert performance that is transmitted live as well as subsequently released by both the art magazine Kong and the Dutch label Sisyphos Productions (both editions being music cassettes). Performs with Under For at the ISCM World Music Days in Aarhus Musikhus (the performance is released 25 years later in relation with the re-release of the group’s debut lp). Contributes to the anthology Pearls before Swine. Forms the band SS-Say that plays its debut concert at the William S. Burroughs arrangement in Copenhagen. Plays violin on the Before single Sister Culture after having left the group during 1981. Plays periodically with the modern opera inspired ensemble Alive With Worms.

1984

Releases the epic Under For album Apparently All the Same in May. Opens the exhibition God & Grammar at Charlottenborg with four compositions written for Tibetan horns and tape loops. Writes the music to and performs in the Claus Bohm film Totem. Releases the Under For 12″ single Free-Force Structure. Releases his second book The Identity of Alienation. Writes, composes and instructs the multi-media theatre performance Parade with The Body Art Ensemble of Copenhagen.

1985

Releases the 12″ Fusion with SS-Say. Makes his album debut as a solo artist with Relief upon which he plays all instruments. The art magazine Atlas includes the at the time unreleased Pesteg Dred album Years of Struggle against the Lies, the Stupidity and the Cowardice as a music cassette as a supplement to its first edition. Releases Warfare, the last Under For record. Forms the synthpop duo Front and Fantasy with Martin Krogh, a band recording the classic track Treatment as their one and only single.

1986

Releases the double-album Cutting Through (The Final Recordings) in February, a work that consists of one record with hi-tech synthrock and one record dedicated to Hall’s work in the field of ambient music. Writes the music for the Danish dance company Nyt Dansk Danseteater’s performance Between Two Eternities after which he isolates himself for two years to go through a period of metaphysical studies.

1988

Achieves a major comeback with the album Presence in the autumn, a grandiose and symphonic pop release. The title contains the single Beat of the Drum, a song that ends up being the most played Danish single on the leading Danish radio station The Voice that year.

1989

Establishes his own label Mind and Media that releases the cassette and booklet The Hall of Mirrors. Forms the trash group and multimedia show And Then Again with video director Henrik Möll. Releases his third book Continuum. Writes the music for the film series The Point of No Return. Releases the compilation album The Martin Hall Document. Writes and performs Requiem at Taksigelseskirken (a church in Copenhagen) in December.

1990

Releases the highly acclaimed Imperfect album that is released simultaneously with the video cassette Audio-Visual. In June follows And Then Again’s album Dreamworld recorded live on the group’s 1989 tour and in September the Palladium ep. Releases the Grammy-nominated album The Rainbow Theatre at the end of the year featuring the 67 year old former cabaret singer Irma Victoria. Contributes to the anthology Long Ago Recently. Produces and performs on the Peter Bonde 7″ double-single Untitled.

1991

Releases the Read Only Memory album with (East) German singer Aud Wilken. Contributes to the anthology Museum At Noon. Releases the tapes A Mind and Media Index and A Martin Hall Index. Writes the music to two short films on the video release Video Trance Mission released by the Swedish label PCP.

1992

Begins recording the album A Touch of Excellence. Releases the music cassette A Split Index.

1993

Releases the single Sweet Mystery with his NTT project, a duo with singer Tina Schäfer during the summer. In September his first single as a singer for more than three years, Strange Delight, becomes a huge radio hit. Achieves yet another massive comeback with the highly successful album A Touch of Excellence, a release that includes performances from 45 Danish musicians – names such as the world-famous jazz musician Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and several members of the Danish punk godfathers Sort Sol. Writes the music to the critically acclaimed Bjarne Solberg installation Sphere. The Read Only Memory track All the Way Down is released as a bonus 7″ single with the music magazine Adventure #9.

1994

Performs at the prestigious Venue festival, a concert transmitted by Danish National Radio. Releases the cd Angel of the Night from his latest album, a single that features the title track from the film Night & Day as a bonus track. Endures his first major Denmark tour throughout March and April, the Pandemonium Tour. In October follows the (in)famous album Phantasmagoria – The Second Coming featuring the at the time 72 year old Irma Victoria. Ends off the year with a midnight concert at Hellig Kors Kirken (The Holy Cross Church), Ceremony of Purification, a highly praised performance later released as a limited edition cd.

1995

Receives the honoury award from DJBFA (The Association of Danish Composers) in March. Performs a series of new and old compositions accompanied by the string quartet The Danish Quartet in the concert hall of The Danish National Radio with direct live coverage (the recordings are released as Performance in 1997). Receives the prestigious three-year grant from The National Fund for the Endowment of The Arts in April. Performs with The Danish Quartet at the Roskilde Festival in the summer. Writes the music for the performance show Conflicto Fetish Party in Alexandra in August. Produces the Irma Victoria contribution track on the Steppeulvene tribute album Hip (”Itsi-Bitsi”) as well as providing a substantial part of the lyrics on the Grammy-winning Ester Brohus album Heart of Desert Longing. Writes and records the official Christmas song for the Danish National Radio, an English version sung by Aud Wilken, “December Days”, and a Danish version performed by Maya Albana, “December Nat” (“December Night”).

1996

Releases the single Cradlemoon in January and the highly acclaimed album Random Hold in February. Releases his debut novel and fourth book entitled The World Days in March as well as the ep Extended Play, the latter including several newly recorded tracks not included on the album. Performs his only concert in Denmark that year in Cirkusbygningen (Copenhagen) in May, a concert featuring full album line-up (i.e. electric ensemble as well as strings). The concert is recorded and transmitted by the Danish National Radio. Opens the “Kulturby 96” campaign (Copenhagen being the cultural city of Europe in 1996) with a series of word- and soundscapes transmitted from beneath the town square via 25 buried loudspeakers. Writes half of the lyrics on the double-platinum album Silent Violence released by Hanne Boel in September. Contributes with material to the German sampler Electrocity Volume 8.0 in November.

1997

Random Hold ranks as #3 on the well-respected Danish music magazine ZOO’s top 100 for 1996 (only surpassed by R.E.M.’s New Adventures in Hi-Fi og Suedes Coming Up) and is appointed “cd release of the year” in the Danish National Television programme Tilt. The limited edition titles Testcards 1989–1995 (a double-cd featuring formerly unreleased demo material) and the 7″ single Hallmark 1–4 are released during April and May. Contributes with material to the German sampler Bouquet of Dreams Volume 3. In October Public Propaganda releases Random Hold in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (a company formerly known for their work with artists such as Björk and Prodigy). At the same time the Danish label Lidocaine releases Hall’s radio concert with The Danish Quartet from 1995 under the title Performance. Appears on the Top 50 over the most important Danish rock albums ever in the encyclopedia Politiken’s Dansk Rock Leksikon 1956–1997 with two titles, Ballet Mécanique’s The Icecold Waters of the Egocentric Calculation and Random Hold.

1998

Records the tracks “Visibility” and “Love in Vein” with the German techno act Trauma featured on the album Phase III. Writes all the lyrics for the Hanne Boel album Need (proclaimed as her best album ever by the press) as well as her European hit single “Salt of Your Skin”. Releases his fifth book Untitled in September, a collection of short prose poetry which is received very well. Contributes to the ninth International Symposium of Electronic Art at John Moores University in Liverpool throughout September and October. In November Hall appears at Vega’s spoken word festival as one of the headlining acts alongside names such as Henry Rollins, Michael Gira and Lydia Lunch, a séance where he presents the audience with the novel The Disease, a manuscript never formally released, only read aloud on this single occasion and then made available for the audience present at the event. Contributes with the story Nine Cigarettes to the Christmas anthology Christmas Stories.

1999

Grammy-nominated as songwriter of the year in the categories “hit of the year” (for “Salt Of Your Skin”) as well as “songwriter of the year”. Releases the single Burning Sugar that becomes a major airplay hit peaking at the official top 5 and becoming “single of the week” on the Danish National Radio. Followed by the critically acclaimed album Adapter and a second single, Just a Feeling, Hall plays a series of exclusive concerts. In August he contributes to Operanord’s Gilles’ Requiem, a major theatre production set up in an old factory in Copenhagen. Contributes to the anthology Short Prose 1999 released in September. Invited to contribute to The Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art running from the end of September to the beginning of November. The limited edition double-cd Testcards 1994–1997 featuring rare demo recordings and previously unavailable concert material is released in October, the same month as Ole Bornedal’s (director of the film The Night Watch’ starring Ewan McGregor, Nick Nolte and Patricia Arquette) stage play God Bless Denmark opens at the theatre Oestre Gasvaerk – a play for which Hall wrotes the music.

2000

Releases the album Playlist with Saccharin, a collaboration with Greek–Swedish singer Katja Andersson. In March the spectacular album Boel & Hall is released in several European countries, a collaboration with Hanne Boel that unites the two artists as joint performers on a recording. The album goes gold during the first week of its release and contains the hit singles ”Chance of a Lifetime” and ”Can’t Help Myself”. During the summer Hall writes an additional score to the legendary Danish play Aladdin by Adam Oehlenschlæger, a supplement to Carl Nielsen’s original music. The production is performed at Ulvedalene (an outdoor venue in the middle of a forest outside Copenhagen) by Gladsaxe Teater and involves more than 200 actors and musicians as well as horses and elephants. Writes the soundtrack for the film Poet by the Danish director Claus Bohm, a film about the generation of Danish poets who have had their debut during the nineties.

2001

In March Hall releases the single My Argentine Rose followed by the purely classically orchestrated work Metropolitan Suite. The album is produced by and written in collaboration with the Danish visual artist Christian Skeel. At the same time the book Kommunikaze is released, a three-year diary covering Hall’s work and personal turmoil from January 1998 to December 2000. Signs an international publishing contract with EMI Music Publishing Germany in April. Is given the honour to write the music for the opening of Ingvar Cronhammar’s grand-scale building work Elia in Herning (a Danish city), a monument inaugurated in September. During the following month Hall opens his own exhibition A Hospital Room at Ystads Konstmuseum (an art museum in Sweden), an installation based on the sounds and images made through a series of conversations with a dying hospital patient. Releases the controversial double-cd Memorial – Finest Moments and Famous Last Words in November, a compilation album that includes a documentary commemorating the life and art of Irma Victoria as well as written contributions from a series of internationally acclaimed artists. The title also features a guest appearance by the Danish Raveonettes singer Sharin Foo.

2002

Writes and produces the music for Gladsaxe Teater’s major 2002 launch, a modern adaptation of Lady of the CamelliasCamille and stars the mezzo-soprano Andrea Pellegrini, the Konsort choir and the The Vista Dome Ensemble. The album is proclaimed to be one of Hall’s most memorable works ever by an unanimous press. In April Danish multi-platinum act Caroline Henderson releases Naos, an album where Hall writes most of the material in collaboration with the artist, including the two singles “Try” and “All that We Are”. In June he appears in Henrik Marstal’s book Everything that Music Is Capable Of and in July he contributes to the anthology Poems for the Boys. In August Hall takes part in the Sound&Literature festival in Aarhus and in September he opens the Kulturbro biennale at Ystads Konstmuseum in Sweden with the sound installation Audiofile: Helena 64. Ends off with the production broadcast of Keine Hinterwelt, a 40 -minute montage opera transmitted by P2, the classical radio channel on The Danish National Radio

2003

In May Hall is included in Krak’s Blue Book, a prestigious book of summation of the most important people in Danish art and culture. Contributes to book Back then in the 80′s. Writes the Belgravia hit She Shines, a huge radio hit that summer. In September he releases two albums on his new label Panoptikon, a newly recorded songwriter album entitled Music Hall (a collection of Hall songs performed by a cavalcade of new Danish female singers such as Lise Westzynthius, Mette Sand Hersoug from Moon Gringo, Catbird feat. Billie Koppel and Tanja Thulau from Luke) as well as his legendary Danish National Radio concert from 1983, Inskription, which thereby gets released on cd for the first time. The latter’s 20 years jubilee is celebrated by a new and modernised version performed live on September 11 by the Danish electronica act Wäldchengarten. In November Hall collaborates with Danish-Australian author Jeff Matthews on The Wheelchair Wildstyle Soundtrack, a book released with its own soundtrack included.

2004

Releases the album Das Mechanische Klavier in June, a series of modern songs and lieder performed by the mezzo-soprano Andrea Pellegrini with narratives read by the German scholar Herbert Zeichner. Writes the music for Patricia Davelouis’ short film The Shore of Fog. Composes the musical setting for The Danish National Radio production of two Per Højholt short stories in relation to the author’s death in October (“Mr. Hamilton Fish” and “Genital and abdominal self-surgery”). Declines to extend his international publishing deal as a songwriter (comment to the press: “I’ve done my military service now”). Spends the autumn and winter finishing his new novel.

2005

Releases his first record as a singer for more than six years in April, the Introducing Roseland ep featuring the grandiose radio hit “Roseland”. One of the leading participants in The Caravan of Culture and Education in May, a set of conferences taking place a various institution of higher education throughout the country culminating in a hearing in the Danish Parliament. In June Hall performs his first concert since 1999 at the castle Hindsgavl Slot, a highly profiled event involving video, poetry and full ensemble (the sold out concert is recorded and transmitted by the Danish National Radio). In July two new download versions of You Know Why They Hate Me become available, one by Labelpuck, the other by Hess Is More. Releases his long awaited major novel The Last Romantic in August, a monumental 700 pages piece of work reflecting a young man’s journey over 25 years (from the summer of 1980 up until the time of the release). The book is received with massive media hype and constitutes in no uncertain terms Hall’s literary breakthrough in terms of both attention and sales. In November he stages the literary performance Kopfkino at Roskilde Bibliotek, a journey through sound, images and text involving the narrator Herbert Zeichner and the classical singer Andrea Pellegrini.

2006

Releases the single Damage Control in January, a radio hit with no connection whatsoever to the following album Facsimile launched in February. Praised as one of his best records ever by an unanimous press, the record – his first solo album as a singer in seven years – remains one of his principal works. In February Under For’s 1984 club hit “Free-Force Structure” is included on the German compilation cd Aderlasss Vol. 4 which is released in most of Europe (a double-cd containing classic goth and electro tracks selected by ten leading European clubs). Performs his first concerts in Aarhus and Copenhagen since 1999 during March – at Aarhus Teater (an old theatre hall) and Store Vega. Writes the music for the Danish poet Nicolaj Stochholm’s new literary suite Færden, a piece of work that’s broadcasted on P2 on April 9. Participates at several Marcel Proust lectures in the same period, both as a guest at the salons of The Danish Proust Society as well as at Charlottenborg. Releases the limited edition cd Hindsgavl Slot 180605 in relation to the one-year anniversary of the concert. Throughout July and August the book The Last Romatic becomes “book of the month” in its re-release as a paperback on Gyldendal (the biggest Danish publisher) and in September Ballet Mécanique’s legendary debut album The Icecold Waters of the Egocentric Calculation is finally released as cd in a special 25-years anniversary edition. The album is attended by the independently released 7″ single Intellectual Self-Mutilation. Issues the download single Torn Envelope the same month. In October Hall writes the music for the internationally acclaimed Danish installation artist Ingvar Cronhammar’s exhibition Racing Cars – The Art Dimension, at Aros, Denmarks biggest art museum. Performs one of his most remarkable concerts ever at Glyptoteket with a classical line-up of 17 musicians on October 24 (the concert features appearances from The Danish Chamber Players as well as trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg). At the end of the year Hall appears on the renowned Danish group Efterklang’s American vinyl release One-Sided LP.

2007

Writes the soundscape to As if Through a Glass and Darkly, an installation project at Odense University College Of Engineering created by Ingvar Cronhammar. Participates as composer in the annual classical summer festival at Fuglsang Herregård (a Danish manor) in relation to a concert with The Danish Chamber Players in August. In September Hall makes his literary debut in Germany via his contribution to the anthology Die schönsten Weihnachtsgeschichten aus Skandinavien. Releases the new download single ”World on a String” as a prelude to box set Catalogue (Martin Hall 1980–2007) that is set for sale in November, a collection of five audio-cd’s and a dvd covering his musical career from 1980 up until the time of the release (all in all 81 music tracks and 15 dvd-features). A major percentage of the material consists of new recordings – i.e. one disc contains entirely new remixes by names such as Dub Tractor and Prinz Ezo (a.k.a. Bjørn Svin). The recordings also include guest visits from the legendary Danish avant-garde composer Else Marie Pade and the flamboyant artist and flâneur Marquis Marcel de Sade. During the month of the release Hall also receives the Klub Golem Award 2007, a price given to a person or group of people who have exerted substantial significance on the Danish underground scene.

2008

In March Infodementia is released, a series of articles and texts published in various major newspapers and magazines throughout the past year combined with several new essays written in Prague and Buenos Aires. In the same month Hall also makes his motion picture debut as an actor in the film The Flame and the Lemon by Danish director Ole Christian Madsen, the most expensive Danish-language production ever made. During the spring Hall’s book The Last Romantic is published in Lithuania (Paskutinis Romantikas). Figures in the lineup of authors attending CPH.LITT.08 (Copenhagen Literature Festival 2008) in June. From the middle of August till the end of October Hall surprisingly agrees to be one of the three judges in DR’s primetime show Talent 2008 alongside film producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen from Lars von Trier’s Zentropa and musical star Julie Steincke – a process Hall thoroughly analyses and depicts in the following, fairly scandalous book release Weightless Man under Ominous Sky. Parallel with these activities the download single Delirious appears, a title on which Hall collaborates with the young Danish group Marybell Katastrophy, followed by the compilation album Catalyst (Singles 1982–2008). During the fall he also performs at the Danish Architecture Centre and the Danish National Gallery. In December the spoken word album Færden (“Movement”) is released, a collaboration with acclaimed Danish poet Nicolaj Stochholm.

2009

Releases three albums in February, two special editions of older works (Apparently All the Same from 1984 and Random Hold from 1996) as well as the new title Hospital Cafeterias. On this record Hall collaborates with a line of guest musicians such as Else Marie Pade, Claus Beck-Nielsen Memorial, Mikkel Meyer, Knud Odde, Andrea Pellegrini, members from Efterklang and The Vista Dome Ensemble. Subsequently the album video P.O. was banned from YouTube due to its “offensive” content, a decision raising quite a stir in the media (the video was made by Danish fashion photographer hansen-hansen.com and shows a shadowy girl posing in woman’s lingerie with a gag in her mouth). The Mikkel Meyer remix Bullring Rules of the “Sob Story” track from the album is included on the Klub Gaffas March cd (a cd that comes with leading Danish music magazine Gaffa). Participates in a series of literary arrangements during the spring, e.g. Jazz N Poetry as well as CPH.LITT.09. Writes the preface to an extensive Danish Charles Baudelaire collection released in June, Selected Prose, and contributes among a line of Danish top executives and MP’s to the book Authenticity in September. In the same month he performs with the Danish electronica act Tone at both the Robodays festival and the audio-visual Apart festival at Platform4 as well as releasing the new download ep Mirrorball as well as a remastered special edition of his two internationally acclaimed mid-80’s records Relief and Cutting Through. Achieves a minor club hit in England with the ”Mirrorball” remix Rewriting the Scene. Gives his first concerts as a singer since 2006 during October and November – in both Denmark and Germany – performances that all receive excellent reviews.

2010

Receives the Recession award for best Danish concert in 2009 while the Hospital Cafeterias album tops several lists for best 2009 albums (sites such as Geiger, Undertoner and Transmission). Contributes to the anthology Five Years of Literature in March. Performs an instrumental opening for the exhibition Re-Modelling the World (a retrospective featuring works of Danish artist Bjørn Nørgaard) at The Danish National Gallery in April. In June the dvd Totem/Nattens Engel is released. In August Hall performs with the internationally recognized classic accordeonist Bjarke Mogensen at both Nyborg Slot (a Danish castle) and at Schubertiaden in Roskilde. During the same month he contributes to the book Something Rotten! subtitled “Punk in Denmark: Painting, Music, Literature 1977–85”. In September he releases his first piece of fictional work since his literary breakthrough with The Last Romantic, the new novel Kinoplex which is also published as an audiobook including a new soundtrack written and produced by himself in collaboration with Christian Skeel. Later that month Live at St. Paul’s is issued, a dvd-recording of his critically acclaimed concert performance at Saint Paul’s, and so is the Pesteg Dred/SS-Say cd I Have Seen You through the Years, Worn by Different Faces. Contributes to the anthology Subculture in October, the same month where he performs Kinoplex – Fragments of a Memory Journal at The Music Theatre of Copenhagen. At the same time Hall’s tv-show Salon Midwelt premiers on the Danish DK4 channel, a highbrow talkshow sent once a week during October and November. In October the original Pesteg Dred album is furthermore released as a special vinyl edition in America.

2011

The American Pesteg Dred release receives great international reviews in medias such as the illustrious English music magazine The Wire. In January Hall performs on the track “Hurt” on Sandra Day’s posthumously released debut album Sing – Don’t Cry (the diva of Danish transsexuals). In February he contributes to Minute Papillon, an album that consists of 60 new recordings made by 60 international artists (names such as Scanner, Opiate and Hannah Peel). Each contribution lasts exactly one minute, and Hall’s recording ”Textra” opens the compilation. At the end of the month he inaugurates the exhibition Mirror of the Soul at Holstebro Kunstmuseum (a Danish art museum) with a sound performance. In May he appears on the release of the legendary concert recording 30 Minutes with Danish post-punk pioneers Before, an album recorded live at Saltlageret in 1981. The track “Care” is included on the New York based label Minimal Wave’s album The Hidden Tapes. Contributes to the Danish literary magazine Oeverste Kirurgiske #52 in June with the text “Memoirs”. During the autumn Hall writes a series of extensive essays for various Danish music sites such as Gaffa and Geiger. He also performs with the NME-hyped Danish punk band Iceage at the BITE festival. In December the Danish artist and musician Goodiepal performs a night of live Hall remixes.

2012

Releases the album Performing Apart in February, a collaboration with Tone. Produces several new videos such as Serienummer and St. Petersburg Notes. Performs his own spoken word performance of Fragments of a Memory Journal in The House of Poetry, Vartov, in April. Performs as European headline act at The Podlasie Opera in Białystok, Poland, in relation to the international Songwriters Festival in June. In October the album If Power Asks Why appears, a series of new songs and “hybrid lieder” recorded in collaboration with mezzo-soprano Andrea Pellegrini and classical pianist Tanja Zapolski. In the same month he also releases the book Nostatic!, an collection of essays illustrated by the Danish painter and lithographic artist Knud Odde. During October Hall gives an instrumental concert at The National Gallery of Denmark in relation to the Matisse exhibition Doubles and Variations as well as he performs at KOES (Museum of Art in Public Spaces). At the end of the month he collaborates with the soprano Djina Mai-Mai at a spoken word performance in Hvalsoe Church. During November and December the album If Power Asks Why is performed on stage at theatres such as the Katapult Theatre in Aarhus and Teater Grob in Copenhagen, events where Andrea Pellegrini and Tanja Zapolski are accompanied by the new Danish avant-garde ensemble Lydenskab.

2013

The Hall album If Power Asks Why is nominated for the P2 Awards 2013 in the category “Lyt til Nyt” (alongside works by Per Nørgaard, Arne Nordheim and Kaija Saariah). In March MH performs at the Danish Holmboe Festival (a classical festival) accompanied by the accordeonist Bjarke Mogensen. At the same time his new video Muted Cries appears, a prelude for Hall’s first solo album for more than seven years, Phasewide, Exit Signs, released in the beginning of April. During the spring he plays his first concerts with band in Denmark since 2009 at venues such as Fuglsø and The Court Theatre in Copenhagen (a royal theatre built in 1766 situated at The Danish Parliament).