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Following their monumental 2012 concept LP The Death Defying Unicorn, Motorpsycho and Storlokken were asked to create a work of the same magnitude for Trondheim’s biggest cultural fest.
Under the theme of ‘folk’ – not tales of Taper Tom or Smorbukk, but folk as a national condition – they took three ideas: write for a choir, write in Norwegian (their first ever attempt), and use the recently restored Cathedral organ as the central instrument. This 70-minute whopper is the result – a mighty triple-gatefold package to get your head round. Politically a little lost in translation, the work flows from sonorous, organ-heavy textures and toccatas to fully integrated rock songs, with the choir providing Ligeti-like atmosphere or a Bach-style melody. Deciphering lyrics is hard as a compound language has been created – Magma fans may appreciate both the argot and the drama of the work, particularly on cyclic jazz odyssey Kebabels Tårn. Persevere and it does work, though. Imens, Bed Bipolarsirkelen frames Storlokken as the Rick Wakeman of our generation, and on Mammonumamikoma and Grandiosa, the MP machine will turn you on.
