It’s often the case that so-called supergroups fail, inevitably crushed by the weight of audience expectation and the egos of those involved.
Happily no such problems bedevil this project, though it’s unlikely that the participants would regard themselves as being in the supergroup category, despite their star status on the Norwegian scene and the fact that the collective music they make is nothing less than stellar. Hanging on a knife-edge of trippy, lysergic splurges and cymbal-spattered salvos of volatile energies, Motorpsycho guitarist, Hans Magnus ‘Snah’ Ryan and sometime collaborator, keyboardist Ståle Storløkken, combine with innovative percussionist, Thomas Strønen and sax supremo, Kjetil Møster to fashion a wild, fearless sound that throws caution to the wind. The unit weld agile shifts in quirky, percolating rhythms that are often infused with a sizzling electronica to straight-ahead, rock-outs that hurtle along with deranged themes and breakneck solos. Filled to the brim with vaporous Mellotron, translucent guitar, jolting beats and clamorous brass, while more firmly rooted in rock than the jazz end of the musical spectrum, it remains a thrilling take on what an instrumental quartet can achieve.
