Motorpsycho
Little Lucid Moments

Premise I feel the need to emphasize:

Motorpsycho has been, for almost 15 years, the greatest form of sonic pleasure for me (surpassed only by the orgasmic moans of a partner...). I am still their classic fan, the one who has around thirty original LPs and EPs at home, ten ticket stubs torn before entering concerts, pictures taken in Trondheim hoping to capture a Bent or a Snah of the situation in "Madonna di Medjugorie" style, and who still goes to see them live (for tradition) even though the band's offerings for a while now are not the same that used to cause tachycardia from excitement.

That said, just a few days ago, I was alerted by my motorpsychoultrafan friend (my clone, but female) about the imminent release of yet another work by the Norwegian band. I received the news with calm, almost skepticism, happy they are still alive and producing, but at the same time already prepared to reformulate the same concepts I expressed to myself after listening to various "Phanerothyme", "It's A Love Cult" and "Black Hole/Blank Canvas" (each different in their own right but always with intentions far from the old masterpieces, especially the first two mentioned, and with the usual hyper seventies inclination to partly suffocate their perhaps withered creativity).
It is useless to reignite certain debates, already seen also on debaser frequencies, about the fact that "Black Hole/Blank Canvas" had brought them back to their former glory. For me, it was never like that. Only a nostalgic with blinders could claim it, although it was understandable that the album was an appreciable product. 

But let's talk about their latest work, "Little Lucid Moments", the title track that opens the dances of this monumental EP composed of four suites, a couple of which are interminable (in the old-fashioned way, so to speak). Ready, set, go: the track (over 20 minutes long or so) starts without frills, or rather, it makes speakers, desks... and neighbors vibrate. On drums, we find the little phenomenon (not even thirty, it seems) Kenneth Kapstad, an element of undeniable technical stature who gives the entire work an extraordinary drive, a drive that only a few bands manage to instill with such warmth and with their now classic infusion of energy rooted in hard rock, always the most cherished genre for the three guys from Trondheim.

"Little Lucid Moments" thus starts under good auspices, almost as if to say to the undersigned "don't worry, we know what you like". But the problem with these latest Motorpsycho is the now predictable "fall" into mega hard sounds with space riffs sewn onto other riffs that will undoubtedly drive lovers of 70s ultrasounds crazy (and I am among them), but at the same time leave puzzled those like me who devoured albums like "Timothy's Monster" or "Blissard", masterpieces overflowing with personality, sweetness, acidity, psychedelia, and "melancholic joy."

The four titanic pieces of the record in question are a summary of their way of understanding and making music from about 2000 onwards, that is, with a more "playful" approach, perhaps less inspired, certainly more technical and referential. In this "L.L.M." they come to caress prog in some of its endless phases, and they delude me into believing they have reapproached the old moods with the beginning of the second, "Year Zero", which in my opinion is the most successful piece of the four. Within its labyrinths, I breathe gulps of fresh air, the kind I inhaled clinging to the tanks of "Angels And Daemon At Play" and "Trust", and the piece does its dirty work for more than half its duration (about 11 minutes).
"She Left on the Sun Ship" and "The Alchemyst" bring me back down to earth, without further indulging me in little excursions into their past, alas Past. 

In conclusion, I will go to see them live... as always, like the fan who heads towards the stadium even if his favorite team is stuck mid-table. I will go to see Bent and Snah who, with passion and surprising devotion to the rock cause, tread yet another stage as if it were the first time (...let's say the hundredth).

But let's stop with this story that "they are back".
"Demon Box", "Timothy's Monster", "Blissard", "Angels And Daemon At Play", "Trust" ... are the past, and it is right for it to be so even though it's unfortunate to note once again that it is no longer possible to expect something close to the caliber of the four wonders mentioned.

V-S

ps: I hope fans like me understand my critical point of view, but in the end, it's just the regret of a lover who, even after years, remembers how powerful that love was.