Motorpsycho - Here Be Monsters (2016)

Over the last 25 (approx) years, Motorpsycho's founding members Magnus Snah' Ryan and Bent Sæther have gripped tight on an exhilarating rollercoaster ride since they first met at high school in the central Norwegian town of Steinkjer; they've embarked on music progressions over multiple genres, collaborations, the occasional line-up change, accumulating fanatics all over the globe, and awards too, cementing their position as Norway's most eminent rock behemoths. This fantastical trip was documented by their first anthology, the 2CD Supersonic Scientists: A Young Person's Guide To Motorpsycho (containing one song from every normal studio album since 1993), which Rune Grammofon released in October 2015. But that was then, and Here Be Monsters is right now, the newest compelling episode. Hold tight, for this is the zenith of the Norwegians' motorpsychodelic tendencies, with the emphasis on the blissful and melodic rather than their more (metal)hair-raising moments, but still an intense rollercoaster ride all of its own. Here Be Monsters started life as a commission for the centennial jubilee of the Norwegian Technical Museum in November, 2014. The music was written for the expanded version of Motorpsycho that features everyone's favourite keyboardist Ståle Storløkken (Elephant9, Supersilent, Terje Rypdal, etc.). Performed just once, this music clearly had more life in it, and while Ståle s commitments meant he had to pass on making an album out of it, Bent, Snah and Kenneth Kapstad (drums) have turned it into a full-blown Motorpsycho project. Recording began in February 2015 at Trondheim's Nidaros Studios before the final mix in November, an unusually lengthy (for them) stretch in which to evaluate the musical minutiae even more thoroughly. There are five of their own compositions, from the tantalising piano intro (Sleepwalking and its equally brief reprise Sleepwalking Again) to the expansive and stunningly scenic 17-minute adventure another rollercoaster! - of the closing Big Black Dog, via the serene beauty of Lacuna/Sunrise and Running With Scissors, and the pulsing, pounding I.M.S. Motorpsycho also felt it was the perfect occasion to record one of their favourite psych nuggets of old; their take on HP Lovecraft's version of Terry Callier s Spin Spin Spin, adds a new, slightly sinister vibe to the old folk tune, which offsets and complements the grandiose cinematic sweep of their own songs. Co-produced, engineered and mixed by long-time co-conspirator and fellow sonic explorer Thomas Henriksen, Here Be Monsters is Motorpsycho's most hi-fi, headphone-friendly music yet, taking you closer to the songs' themes. While the museum version lyrically focused on history and time, this revised version looks at other aspects of life; perhaps not a jubilant celebration of existence, but a personal take on the human condition, as seen from central Norway in the second decade of the second millennium by grown men in a juvenile profession. (Let confusion reign!). Lacuna/Sunrise, for example, is a glimpse of the less proud moments in a man s life, while I.M.S. (as in Inner Mounting Shame) examines the humiliation and distress that often rides in tandem with such lapses in judgement. Big Black Dog addresses the long dark night of the soul within the weeks and months of near-total winter darkness in the frozen North. It is Motorpsycho taking a long look into the abyss, to drive the darkness out by accepting that it is real and true and a part of us all. Tracks: Sleepwalking, Lacuna/Sunrise, Running With Scissors, I. M. S, Spin, Spin, Spin, Sleepwalking Again, Big Black Dog