Review of Phanerothyme taken from the
British high-quality magazine
THE WIRE #213 / November 2001.
In English. Transcribed by Arne Svalastog.

Motorpsycho
Phanerothyme
Stickman  psychobabble 033

The Norwegian power trio Motorpsycho regularly cut their psychedelics with all sorts of street trash, bubblegum and gasoline. Although in the past their records have emphasised their post-Blue Cheer biker sensibility, Phanerothyme marks their first extended trip into euphoric ballroom pop, with guitarist Hans Magnus Ryan's wonderful post-Quicksilver guitar now married to some dayglo psych that sounds like Jefferson Airplane circa Crown of Creation or The Byrds, if they actually flew eight miles high. The production is period-piece perfect, with muzzy warm bass, martial rythms, undersea brass and foggy choruses of vocal. But this is no retro freakbeat and has more in common with some of Japan's new psychedelia. Besides the hyper arrangements on tracks like "Go To California" and "Painting The Night Unreal", there are also some seductively stripped down pieces, none sweeter than the opening "Bedroom Eyes", whose forlorn strings, acoustic guitar and piano sound as lost as Nick Drake's Bryter Layter.

David Keenan