As sure as the seasons change, springtime has turned into new-album-season for Norway’s Sugarfoot. “The Santa Ana” is the band’s fourth album, released exactly one year after 2016’s “Different Stars”. Quite early in the writing process it was decided that the boys wanted to return to Joshua Tree and Rancho De La Luna to seek the peace, quiet and inspiration needed for their recording sessions. This time, however, they wanted to reinforce the Californian imprint on their music even further. To do so they drew up the following creative dogma for themselves: to record and mix an album of all new material within the limits of two weeks. Compared to last year’s sessions, this meant deadlines on a totally different level. There would be no room for postponing production details for later. Decisions had to be made on the spot, songs had to be picked and eliminated, and all arrangements, lyrics etc. had to be worked out in advance. Fourteen new songs were recorded in seven days, thirteen of which can be found on “The Santa Ana”. The following week the band spent in L.A., where Noah Shain mixed the new record in his White Buffalo Studio. It’s safe to say that never before have Sugarfoot let go of this much control. Rather than relying on time and the limitless possibilities of a modern studio, the band was back to trusting their musical instincts. As a result, the music sounds fresher. It probably also has a slightly rougher edge to it than before, but still with all its harmonic and melodic qualities intact.