ELECTRIC EYE

Is there any reasonable explanation why so many exceptional bands are coming from this country? The album title speaks for itself, that's for sure. Spending a week locked away from civilization they lived in a lighthouse on a tiny Norwegian island. 'Our only audience were the seagulls ...'. That says a lot about the main circumstances when it comes to the substantial recording sessions for this new album. Almost no distraction. ELECTRIC EYE is an innovative entity that repeatedly surprises me, matures on and on. They are a stable quartet since the beginning with members Øystein Braut (guitars, vocals), Njål Clementsen (bass, vocals), Anders Bjelland (keyboards), and drummer Øyvind Hegg-Lunde in the house. Eight new well-elaborated songs are offered, formatted to a vinyl length, including nice melodies, some psychedelia and pop flair, as well as Krautrock flavoured rhythms.

Man, this special mix is thrilling me the more I'm listening. Song titles are optionally in English or Norwegian language. So for the album kick-off I needed a translator. And had to notice that they obviously are referring to their sole audience here. En Bekymringsfri Koloni (A Carefree Colony) comes totally instrumental. You're immediately faced with Hegg-Lunde's great drumming skills. 'I'm The Man On The Moon ...' - quirky electronics and a memorable pop refrain are striking on Last Call At The Infinity Pool. It may be possible that at some time they even have sighted a few sharks towards the horizon. The Sleeping Sharks bears little dramatic atmosphere indeed.

And the groovy Lighthouse Rock is spreading happiness and liveliness everywhere around, potentially supported by some hot drinks? Den Atmosfaeriske Elven (The Atmospheric River) comes as the most experimental excerpt. A cacophonic beginning, the hypnotic bass lines, a somewhat heavy execution like an emotional outburst, it's my album favourite for now. After leaving their isolation they refined the recordings in collaboration with some other musicians who are contributing wind instruments, cello and additional electronics, to name a few. Fireworks is needed for some praise. A many-sided case, there's so much to detect. As for that, I especially mean the open-minded approach, they are somewhat equal to their fellow countrymen Needlepoint or maybe Goat from Sweden. Thanks so much for this wonderful album! 4.5 stars.

I heard this on YouTube a few times and decided I needed to buy it. Strange, I know spending money on music that is freely available on the Internet. It is the right thing to do.

This is a quirky, kind of weird collection. Sometime dark, always interesting. The lead vocals are ok, but might not please everyone. In some places, I am reminded of 90s darkwave, proto-prog of the 60s, Nick Cave, and Van der Graaf Generator's simpler side. The arrangements and atmosphere are nothing completely new, but there is amazing tension and release.

The recording is pretty good and the inclusion of real and sampled instruments throughout (at times hard to tell which is which) make this all the better.

Not a bad song on here as long as you are not looking for pop songs. Have a listen without prejudice and let your mind be taken away.

Shortly after the release of their second album 'Different Sun' ELECTRIC EYE had the opportunity to celebrate a live gig at Blå, an independent club situated somewhere in Oslo. Six songs were included here in their repertory at the minimum. Maybe they have played even more, but this exactly has been issued via Jansen Plateproduksjon on vinyl, cassette tape, and for a common digital download.

The presented songs are equally adopted from both studio albums, though, not unusual, mixed up on this occasion. This is first and foremost dedicated to those folks, who could not be there at Blå, for what reason ever - yeah, of course! Part One initiates something wonderfully ambient, gloomy, transcendent, developing into a strong Pink Floyd vibe at some appropriate time.

With 6 AM all engines are running at full capacity and drive yet. Man, what a lively bass, what a dramaturgy! As is right and proper for a live gig, the songs are evolving like a permanent suite. Vocals are rare, more intended as sprechgesang. The catchy All Of This Has Happened Before And Will Happen Again surely appears as a highlight here. This song attracted my attention already when exploring their current studio album. The live version is even better imho.

This is melodic psychedelic/space prog overall, featuring restrained organ/synth collaboration. Solely Mercury Rise partially moves into a rock'n'roll territory somehow. Obviously dedicated to bring the attendant crowd on the move. And this will stay during the powerful and dramatic Tangerine furthermore, until finally the band is reaping some deserved applause from a confident audience - 3.5 stars.

Norwegian band ELECTRIC EYE is a fairly new group, and from what I understand they are something of a local super-group consisting of fairly well known musicians all living in or near the town of Bergen. Their debut album was released back in 2013. With "Different Sun" they are ready with the mythically dreaded second album, which was released through Norwegian label Jansen Plateproduksjon at the start of 2016.

I stumbled upon this album by chance myself, when following up on something of a vanity project I have: To list all new albums sorted under the progressive rock tag which is available to by from digital vendor emusic. Not an important task at all of course, but it is interesting for me personally to see the sheer number of albums that in some way or other is marketed directly or indirectly to this niche audience. This new album by Electric Eye was among the recent additions to that list, and after giving it a brief run on Spotify I decided that I needed to get this one. And while emusic couldn't supply me, due to region restrictions, Google music could satisfy my need for instant gratification quite nicely.

As I do spend a fair deal of my spare time reviewing music, I figured I might as well have a go with this one as well, as my curiosity rather demanded that I had a full run through this album. And I have to admit that I am rather impressed by what this foursome have accomplished here. As with many other bands active today this isn't a band out to rewrite the rules of music as we know it, that should be crystal clear, but those who tend to be fascinated by psychedelic and progressive rock might want to take note.

My main impressions are that this is a band very much in love with the psychedelic music of the late 1960's and early to mid 1970's. And then spanning the whole canvas of music described in a psychedelic context from this era, albeit perhaps with a stronger orientation towards the rock based rather than pop based artists in general, and with something of an affection also for music of a more challenging nature in those landscapes. Not that this is an album I'd describe as challenging as such mind you, but there are numerous small details here that indicates that at least some of the guys in this band know their way around music that focus much more on chaotic and freaked out arrangements than those revolving more closely around distinct melodies and harmonic constructions.

So we have a song like Never Fade Away, a piece with a certain degree of hit potential to my ears, but with a sound that makes me feel like describing it as a bastard child of The Doors and late 70's Eloy. The more atmospheric laden concluding track Part One is a creation that would have been a good match for many late 70's Eloy albums as well, although I kind of presume that certain similarities in sound and style in this as well as the former case is more of an accidental thing. The bassist in Electric Eye would probably have a fun time listening to some mid to late 70's Eloy albums though, at least if my ears and my memory makes the right connections when writing this.

Elsewhere the band treats us to their amalgam of 60's and 70's material, some with more of a garage rock feel to them, other with a more clear orientation towards the cosmic aligned and space oriented bands from the 70's, with at times a liberal use of repetitive elements of the kind that was a staple in many krautock bands. Cosmic sounds and effects are at times used extensively too, and here and there there are even some subtle Hawkwind vibes creeping in amidst the more floating and elegant material with arguably more of a Pink Floyd touch to them, if not in sound and expression then at least in approach and spirit. But disharmonious and freaked out instrument effects have their fair and natural place too, adding a subtle touch of psychedelic freakout to the table. That effects of this kind can be included in a subtle manner is, at least for me, rather impressive.

All in all a strong production, and an album that appears to live and breathe tendencies from the heyday of psychedelic and cosmic rock in terms of songwriting, performance, instrumentation and production. If you have an affection for this kind of music in general, and a special soft spot for artists unafraid to explore it in a comparable manner to the ones active in the golden years of psychedelic rock, this is an album that merits an inspection.