“Den beste norske popplaten du får høre i år” -Adresseavisa (terning 6)
“A close to perfect pop album“ -Nö Music (rating 8.5/10)
“I en ny liga av intelligent popmusikk (…)” -Groove (rating 6/7)
New album out on Forward Records/VME. Check out the radio single “New Graffiti feat Stella Mwangi” on the MySpace page. Buy the album today from Platekompaniet and Big Dipper or online from iTunes and Music Online.
A bouncy, brassy, mash-up of indie pop and R&B All Music Guide
Energien fra mennesker som legger glede i musikken sitter som usynlige avtrykk i hver eneste låt på plata (…) Med New Graffiti overbeviser The Loch Ness Mouse ett hundre prosent. Poplykken er fullkommen. Groove (rating 6/7)
Splitte mine bramseil! Norges flotteste popband har vokst og endret kurs – igjen! Dagens Næringsliv
Ambisiøst, entusiastisk og overbevisende. Dagsavisen (rating 5/6)
The Loch Ness Mouse er virkelig et popband med et stort hjerte for det de driver på med, og som fullstendig går sine egne veier. Her er det null hipsternykker, men bare lekker, jazzete pop. Denne gangen presenterer de seg med en stor andel silkemyk soul, og finner til og med plass til litt hip-hop-hinting, mens jazzkantene er råere og hakket mer utfordrende. Vixen (rating 5/6)
This is one of the best pop albums I have heard in years. PussyJazz Blog
Oppsiktsvekkende, i alle ordets betydninger. (…) En av årets mest interessante norske plater. Dagbladet
In their 17th year of existence, after having released 3 previous studio albums, of which two have been nominated to Pop Album of the Year in Norway (The Alarm Prize), The Loch Ness Mouse release their major work “New Graffiti”, their most ambitious and also most critically acclaimed album to date.
More underground, more demanding and less commercial than its predecessor 11-22, the new disc New Graffiti is like a first attempt of leaving a more conventional figurative style for an abstract one, The Loch Ness Mouse’ first real attempt of mixing elements into something completely new. The album blends organic, band played r’n'b with jazz, pop hooks and hip-hop hints, flamenco chords and modal jazz melody, inspired by everything from Bill Evans to Anita Baker, from Rundgren to The Roots, from Picasso to Coltrane.
The album is recorded with more organic sound aesthetics than previous Loch Ness Mouse-albums: basic tracks, rhythm section and keys, recorded live, the recording process employing a lot of old German mics and guitar tracks played thru crackling, fuzzed-out old tape recorders etc.
The music 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. 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 V.I.P-party/blog world in today’s Norway.
The new graffiti is up, and turning 15 was only the beginning for these veterans of Norwegian underground music.
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).