Electric Eye - From The Poisonous Tree album review

Electric Eye can be considered a supergroup of sorts, at least in their native Norway. Comprising members of The Megaphonic Thrift, Hypertext, The Sweetest Thrill, Dig Deeper and The Low Frequency In Stereo, the quartet first came together for 2013’s Pick-Up, Lift-Off, Space, Time. The title alone gave a fair idea of what to expect – wayfaring cosmic rock with a trippy afterburn. Three albums in, they’re on a similar mission, although the urgent grooves of From The Poisonous Tree are equally indebted to classic German expressionists like Can and Kraftwerk as they are Hawkwind and Floyd. Indeed, at times (as on Invisible Prison or The Diamond Sutra) EE approximate a kind of post-rave prog that sounds best on the dancefloor. Singer/guitarist Øystein Braut – one of the organisers behind Oslo Psych Fest – keeps things spaced with narcotic lyrics about the speed of light and cavorting on the Moon, while sitar effects add strong trails of raga-rock. ‘Give me 20 more years of rock’n’roll’ he intones on the weird, feet-in-treacle comedown of Meditasjonen. Pick of a captivating bunch is Rock På Norska, a seven-minute sortie into droner psych that builds to a semi-orchestral flourish.