Motorpsycho
Phanerothyme

Try to imagine what you would think if a pygmy had the pretension to make you feel, perhaps with simple words, perhaps in music, the emotions that a cold and gray land with boundless spaces, like Iceland, can evoke.
The first thought would probably be to call him crazy or at least to think that the subject in question is somewhat presumptuous and ambitious.

That's why apparently Phanerothyme might give the impression of being a pretentious and meaningless work.

But if you contextualize it in the vast discography of the Trondheim band, you will notice how it is totally different from the noisy and acutely psychedelic inclinations of the three Norwegians and instead meets a greater search for sonic refinement and a new approach in vocal harmonies, drawing heavily from the west coast and the late '60s American psychedelic scene.

All this, however, is done with the boundless talent and crystal-clear class that Ryan and company possess in industrial quantities, and while it is true that references and quotations abound in the album, it is also true that we are far from simple copying, but the Norwegians show us how one can use part of their musical background to produce something still extremely personal and intimate.

In this work, the constantly distorted guitars make room not only for cleaner sounds and less harsh singing but also for the use of entirely new instruments in the group's sound, such as strings, banjo, flute, and horns.

The introduction of the album, Bedroom Eyes, is splendid, a delicate pearl, where acoustic guitar, violins, and a whispered and intimate voice create an atmosphere worthy of the best Nick Drake.
The atmosphere becomes "electric" with For Free, in which the band turns to a much faster pace to explore territories with punk hues, with a driving bass line, used, as Saether has often accustomed us to do, almost as a second guitar, accompanying and filling.
But the Motorpsycho are this and much more, they peek into the different facets of rock, folk, blues, jazz, and blend these genres with mastery that has few equals, as happens in B.S., starting from simple and imaginative exchanges between guitar and bass, then creating ethereal and expanded atmospheres worthy of Dinosaur Jr or Traffic.
The eight minutes of Go To California are pure delight for the ears, perfect vocal harmonies, enveloping and hypnotic groove, and an instrumental phase in which the Doors musically return to life, but more than plundering Light My Fire, the Motorpsycho seem to construct its appendix, developing it into an enveloping and energetic psychedelic ecstasy.
During the carefree walks on the beach, the Motorpsycho are also capable of letting their thoughts travel, translating them into notes, in the most visceral and intimate expanses of their mind, as in the case of Painting The Night Unreal, with its slow progress, paced by a drum with a jazzy style, an almost fusion guitar, and a vocal interpretation that starts subdued to explode in a cry of anger.
Melodies continue to reign supreme and always with great effectiveness and meticulousness of arrangements, as in the case of The Slow Phaseout and the splendid Blindfolded, where one can catch echoes in the sounds and colors of Nick Drake and Burt Bucharach.
Precisely Blindfolded perfectly explains the secret of the Norwegian group's work: simple and original melodies, perfect integration among instruments, superbly constructed vocal harmonies, engaging rhythms, and warm and soothing atmospheres. A perfect alchemy, in which to indulge without hesitation to reach peace of senses.
Feelings of deep serenity and not even so veiled optimism do not diminish even when we find ourselves listening to a melancholy lullaby like When You're Dead, enhanced by Hakon's work on the banjo and the warmth given by a trumpet that lulls us until we fall into a blissful sleep, dreaming of the sunny beaches of California and beyond...

An album that is controversial, which has raised eyebrows for more than a few early fans, but if listened to without prejudice and without expecting to find the Motorpsycho we are used to, it cannot help but be deeply loved and fully experienced, trying, listen after listen, to grasp different particulars and to collect the kaleidoscope of emotions it manages to give us.