The Loch Ness Mouse is possibly Norway’s best kept pop music secret. The band’s history, beginning in Oslo’s indie and punk scene in the mid 90’s, includes four full length albums and an impressive line up of musicians. The core of the band being Ole Johannes Åleskjær and his brother Jørn, the only remaining original members of the pop orchestra. Jørn is only present on this album as a songwriter, but has anyhow been there all the way. Previous participants include members from Serena Maneesh, I Was A King, Benea Reach, The Lionheart Brothers and 120 Days among others.
Ole Johannes and Jørn are both blessed and cursed in the way that their inspirational sources are extremely visible through their songwriting. Their debut album Flair for Darjeeling (1999) is a masterpiece in 60s psychedelic pop, Key West (2002) is filled with Beach Boys influences, and 11 – 22 (2005) a flirt with Steely Dan’s white mixture of pop, jazz and r’n'b. On New Graffiti LNM take the r’n'b-train even further, and their MySpace has for the last six months been filled with references to artists such as the Roots, Erykah Badu, Miles Davis (the fusion parts), India.Arie and Angie Stone. This is also visible in the bands current line up, which since 11 – 22 has been enriched with, among others, saxophonist Torstein Krogedal and Christina Staxrud, a vocalist with a soothing soulfull voice; two crucial elements for the chilled r’n'b sound the band has chosen for New Graffiti.
New Graffiti’s opening track, the album’s title track, really sets the record straight (apologies for the unintended pun). The song is driven forward by a chilled backbeat that would have made Stevie Wonder proud. The song also includes a guest performance by Norwegian hip hop artist Stella Mwangi, and her rap vocals together with a brilliant percussion track really is the cherry topping the milkshake on this one. Summer hit number one for yours truly.
And so on it goes. “Hang on to your pearls” hints to gospel artists like Andrea Crouch or the more recent Kirk Franklin, “Mahogany nights” and “Coltrane in the car” is more of the Steely Dan kind of soul pop, smooth and flawless, while “Is this mic on” has the best drum track I’ve heard all year. If ?uestlove could steel this without someone noticing, I think he would. The only drawback in this song is it’s duration — it’s no more than two short and sweet minutes! Although this album is filled to the rim with soul references, the band haven’t forgotten where they come from. During the minute-long intro to “Ask Him” I could easily have been tricked into thinking this was an old forgotten fusion track from The Headhunters, or an early 70s recording of John Coltrane, untill it bursts into 90’s psychedelica in the likes of Spiritualized or Stereolab, that is.
When a band changes their sound like The Loch Ness Mouse have over the last ten years, there is the imminent danger of people not recognizing you from one album to next. Also, there’s the risk of alienating old fans in the process of gaining new territory. But although New Graffiti is a significantly different album from Flair… and Key West, and filled with musical references in different directions, the signature songwriting of the Åleskjær brothers shines through their choice of style. The result is a close to perfect pop album, filled with summer and sweet sounds. The Loch Ness Mouse’s New Graffiti deserves all the attention it’ll get and then some!
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2 Responses to “Secret no more”
Kalebarkab - June 9th, 2009 at 19:50
I want to find good pop music. Help me please.
Robert - June 13th, 2009 at 12:57
The Loch Ness Mouse and I Was A King are my personal Norwegian faves at the moment. the Lionheart Brothers, Røyksopp and Montee are other good bands you could give a try