The Loch Ness Mouse

NEW GRAFFITI (4th proper studio album) (Forward/VME). Includes the single New Graffiti feat. Stella Mwangi and Midnight Blue feat. Myrna Braza.



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 Loch Ness Mouse release their major work “New Graffiti”, their most ambitious and critically acclaimed album to date.



More underground, more demanding and less commercial than its predecessors, the album could be seen as first tryings of leaving a more conventional figurative style for an abstract one, a first attempt of mixing elements into something completely new. The album blends organic, band played r’n'b with pop, jazz, hooks and flamenco chords and modal melody, inspired by everything from Todd Rundgren to The Roots to Picasso to Coltrane.



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. 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).

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Nominations



"11-22" (2005): Pop Album of the Year (Alarm Prize) & Album of the Year (Oslo Prize)

Key West (2002): Pop Album of the Year (Alarm Prize)