In their 17th year of existence The Loch Ness Mouse release their major work “New Graffiti”, their most ambitious and by far best album to date. More demanding and less commercial than its predecessors, the album sets out to blend organic, band played r’n'b and jazz with hip-hop hints & pop elegance into a new kind of music, inspired amongst other things by how Guru’s Jazzmatazz,  The Roots and others have merged musical styles into something new.  The album is constantly changing in its moods, going from the quiet and emotional Badu-like album key track “Unwarranted” to the hard electric On-The-Cornerish, Miles-mode jazz of “Ask him”, with its two drum kits and wah-wah-ed horns, from the bounce of the title track “New Graffiti” to the muted trumpet solo of the 6+ minutes long “Hang on to your pearls”, another centerpiece of “New Graffiti” .

All the lyrics have a field of association related to colors and language, and the record thematically revolves around the possibilities of music, language and art today, facing everything from the death of a close friend to the hipster-wearyness of certain aspects of the music and blog world in today’s Norway. The new graffiti is up, and turning 15 was only the beginning for this band.

The album features the new 7 people strong permanent line up and is, unlike the last album, very much the result of a real band. The wondeful Stella Mwangi guests on the title track/radio single “New Graffiti”, as does Bergen’s Myrna Braza on “Midnight Blue”. Other guests include Håvard Krogedal (ex-Loch Ness Mouse, ex-Serena Maneesh, now I Was a King) and Morten Øby (ex-Loch Ness Mouse, ex-Serena Maneesh, now Lionheart Brothers).

 

LINKS:

The Loch Ness Mouse Homepage

The Loch Ness Mouse on Myspace

The Loch Ness Mouse on Facebook

The Loch Ness Mouse on Spotify

 

 

UPCOMMING SHOWS:

21.04.10 - BRUKBAR - TRONDHEIM

01.07.10 - EGERSUND VISEFESTIVAL - EGERSUND - "Flair for Darjeeling"

 

PREVIOUS SHOWS:

12.03.10 - REVOLVER - OSLO

05.12.09 - SUBSCENE - OSLO - ALL AGES

and waaaay to many to count...