Motorpsycho. Motorpsycho

If I remember correctly, 2024 was Motorpsycho-less year. I caught the Motorpsycho train once again in 2017 and from then on there was an album every single year. Many of them better than the other, starting with 'The Tower' and now there is an album called simply Motorpsycho.

Listening to the album for the first time, I got the feeling that I had reached my Motorpsycho overdose once again. Something that happened to me for the first time circa 2010. I skipped a few albums, until I read the urgency in the review of 'The Tower'.

The Trondheim based Norwegian band is around since the late 80s and has a prolific output. This reviewer caught on in the year 2001, well one album earlier, 'Let Them Eat Cake', which didn't make an impression on me. 'Phanerothyme' did though and off Motorpsycho and I went on the ride until 'Little Lucid Moments' in 2008.

Now Motorpsycho is known for re-creating music from the past and that it's pretty good at it. Besides creating long(er) compositions that take many a turn and allow for experimentations and improvisations in the studio and later on on stage, it plays songs that seem to come from the songbook of another artist, but is a Motorpsycho song nonetheless. You find a few of both categories on 'Motorpsycho'.

The longest song is 'Neotzar (The Second Coming)' spanning over 21 minutes and with two 10 plus minutes songs also, you will understand that the band released another double LP. The more I listen, the more I understand that 'Motorspsycho' is another must have album. Although the opening track is familiar in sound and based around an elementary riff, the energy is there from the get go and Hans Magnus "Snah" Ryan explores the options with notes that are endlessly repeated but also change at some point. Minimal progrock? Not when the singing is there and 'Lucifer, Bringer Of Light' is in full swing. Classic Motorpsycho.

Not so classic, is where the band goes off exploring the folk and worldmusic side of Led Zeppelin. A mix of 'Gallows Pole', 'Nobody's Fault But Mine' and 'Kashmir' 'Laird Of Heimly' is. The acoustic guitar and the strings are dead giveaways here, as is the style of singing. It is a nice rest area between the rocking 'Lucifer, Bringer Of Light' and the exuberant 'Stanley (Tonight's The Night)'. It comes across as a song where the band is dancing on a rumbling volcano. There is a West Coast connotation but also rocking out with abandon.

After that Motorpsycho winds up and down many a path, surprising you, pleasing you, perhaps even a little shock here and there. It was, is and wil remain a band that excels in what it is good in already but also is not afraid to explore something new. It is all present here.

In the end it is the energy level that sold 'Motorpsycho' to me. Motorpsycho is not a band that I play often but when I do, it is always with pleasure. Something happens as the band is very present and affects my mood positively immediately. It's just not for every moment. 'Motorpsycho' has found its place alright. And now I find that in NL we have to wait until 23 March for the physical product. Patience, in other words, is asked for.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

Those who do not want to wait, can go here:

https://motorpsycho.bandcamp.com/album/motorpsycho