Review Summary: New Motorpsycho? Yay!
To say that Motorpsycho has been busy lately feels like an understatement. The veteran band from Norway has been pumping out a full-length per year since 2019, and all that material ranks at least decently high within their lauded discography. With
Yay!, the trend continues into 2023, although the group’s latest project marks both continuity and change.
Continuity first:
Yay! demonstrates once more that Motorpsycho still brims with ideas and the ability to execute them at a high level (in the unlikely event that there remains any doubt). In terms of change, though, this latest record marks a dramatic shift from the group’s recent output. While albums like
The All Is One and
Ancient Astronauts could be characterized as heavy-ish psych/prog,
Yay! sees the band lean strongly into mellow folky psychedelia, a sound which isn’t absent from Motorpsycho’s previous works, but hasn’t been their focal point in quite a while.
As with any notable shift in musical direction, this transformation will please some fans and disappoint others. This is yet another quality record to emerge from Motorpsycho’s late era, but it scratches a very different itch than its recent predecessors. The deft sense of execution which the band tends to possess, though, remains intact. Opener “Cold & Bored” spells out what to expect with its easy-going and mildly trippy feel, while “Patterns” marks an early highlight with its pretty vocals and compelling closing guitar solo. Later on, “W.C.A” brings the pervasive ‘60s-influences even more to the forefront as one of the record’s strongest tracks. In the latter half of the album, “Hotel Daedalus” and “The Rapture” stand apart with their heavier textures - the former, in particular, wouldn’t have been out of place on
Ancient Astronauts.
The key takeaway from this review should be to not go into
Yay! expecting great grooves, headbanging material, or generally high-energy pieces (even though you’ll find all those attractions on rare occasions). Instead, this is a laid-back kind of record, inclined towards porch sitting or walks in the woods. There’s still plenty of exceptional musicianship on display, though, with the guitar work remaining immensely appealing. In addition, despite the mellowness of the material and the seemingly-throwaway album title,
Yay! can be surprisingly emotionally potent upon occasion - the murmured line “
I can see the light growing dim in your eyes” in the subdued and pretty “Real Again (Norway Shrugs And Stays Home)” being a prime example. And it’s the final verse of closer “The Rapture” which spells out the album’s thesis clearly: “
the days are getting longer, summer’s almost here, I thank my guardian angels, we survived another year” Really, who can ask for more? It’s fitting then, that
Yay! is a perfect soundtrack for the kind of everyday moments which, while simple and understated, help make life worth living.
