Electric Eye: Pick-Up, Lift-Off, Space Time 2013 + Different Sun 2016

 

Electric Eye are a psychedelic rock group from Bergen, Norway formed in 2012 by Øystein Braut, Njål

Clementsen, Anders Bjelland and Øyvind Hegg-Lunde. After their first single "Tangerine" they released their debut album "Pick-up, Lift-off, Space, Time" in 2013.
                                                            

Electric Eye formed in 2012 and had their first appearance at Hulen in Bergen, May 3, 2012. Electric

Eye play droned out psych-rock inspired by the blues, Indian folk music and Rock n' Roll. Electric Eye released their debut LP “Pick-up, Lift-off, Space, Time” in April 2013 on Norwegian Klangkollektivet and UK label Fuzz Club Records.[1] After the debut release, the band have been touring all over Europe, including appearances at Iceland Airwaves 2013, Eurosonic 2014, South By Southwest 2014 and The Great Escape Festival 2014.
                                                                

To quote the famous French marine explorer Jacques Cousteau, Electric Eye’s ‘Horizons’ LP sees the Norweigian psych-rock group venture into the depths of “a different kind of music, the sounds from the

ocean floor.” Spending a week locked away from civilization in a lighthouse on the tiny Norwegian island of Utsira, Electric Eye’s new album ‘Horizons’ – due out November 5th on Fuzz Club Records – is a record “inspired by volcano eruptions, sub-sea adventures and the raw power of the surrounding sea.” The result is an album of oceanic psychedelic rock wig-outs that submerge the listener in a whirlpool of hypnotic space-rock, kosmische garage-blues, dystopian acid-prog and experimental electronics.

Studio albums

                                             

Pick-up, Lift-off Space, Time (2013, Klangkollektivet, Goomah Music)
Different Sun (2016, Jansen Plateproduksjon)
Live At Blå (2016, Jansen Plateproduksjon)
From The Poisonous Tree (2017, Jansen Plateproduksjon)
Horizons (2021, Fuzz Club Records)

PICK - UP, LIFT - OFF SPACE, TIME 2013

                                             

The super group quartet, Electric Eye, opens up a new chapter in Norway’s strong and long lasting tradition for psychedelic music. Spacerock, inspired by blues, India and the ever-expanding boundaries

of the great unknown, are key components in Electric Eyes sonic landscape. The album will serve to showcase, for the first time, the talents of seasoned musicians (Øystein Braut, guitarist of The Alexandria Quartet; Njaal Clementsen of Bergen noise-rockers The Megaphonic Thrift and Low Frequency in Stereo; underground studio-guru and guitarist in art-rocker act, Hypertext, Anders Bjelland; and Jazz/Noise/Drone-drummer, Øyvind Hegg-Lunde)
                                                                    

Their first album Pick-up, Lift-off, Space, Time, released in 2013, is a psychedelic breeze of fresh air since it's composed by early Pink Floyd influences, hypnotic Krautrock-like guitar and keyboard work, Indo-Prog and Blues Rock excursions and clear elements of the recent Neo-Psychedelic scene.
                                                    

The A-side of Pick-up, Lift-off, Space, Time features only three songs, which together form the albums most «trippy» parts. The kraut-inspired single “Tangerine” concludes the first part of the record with

nine-minutes of pure dynamic and monotony. The song, which begins with the sound of the sitar and drone instrument Tanpura, ends in a cacophony of sound, bongo drums applied through a Roland Space Echo, screaming organs and tremolo-ridden guitars. While the B-side is a bit more up-tempo, and makes use of more classical song structures, before the album fades out into the self-titled tune “Electric Eye”, a duet with The Megaphonic Thrift’s lead singer, Richard Myklebust.
                                                             

The Black Angels, Wooden Shjips, Pink Floyd in Pompeii and The Flaming Lips “Embryonic” are all references for Electric Eye’s catchy clash of Psychedelia and krautrock. Whereas other Norwegian psychedelic acts have aspired to perfect the shoegaze-style, this band has more edge, attitude and

defined melodies. This places them closer to the more recent neo-psychedelic-scene, spearheaded by The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols in the nineties. This particular branch has little in common with hippie-bands and flower power, or newer psychedelics fascination with pastel-colors. Neo-psych combines a darker expression, lots of reverb, fuzz-guitars and jam-based music. Electric Eye borrows freely from the different psychedelic decades, combining their key elements into a unique mix of psychedelic space rock and blues.

MEMBERS

                

Bass, Synth [Synths], Vocals – Njål Clementsen
Drums, Percussion – Øyvind Hegg-Lunde
Guitar [Guitars], Sitar [Sitars], Vocals – Øystein Braut
Keyboards [Keys], Synth [Synths], Vocals – Anders Bjelland

TRACKS

                              

01. 6 AM - 7:06
02. Lake Geneva - 6:56
03. Tangerine - 9:11
04. Morning Light - 4:57
05. The Road - 4:09
06. Kruskontroll - 5:15
07. Electric Eye - 7:42

MP3 @ 320 Size: 107 MB
Flac  Size: 316 MB

DIFFERENT SUN  2016

                                               

January, 2015: A new year’s hurricane is ravaging Bergen. Its aftermath rips and tears into the Western

Norwegian town for a week. In Broen Studio, where Electric Eye are plugged in, the walls constantly shake from lightning, thunder, violent downpours and wind. It probably isn’t a coincidence that “Different Sun”, album number two from the quartet, is a record full of fickle and dramatic energy. It’s veritably crackling from fuzz guitars and psychedelic organs. Electric Eyehave definitely landed. In the eye of the hurricane.
                                             

Through 40 minutes the listener is this time taken on seven journeys, all drenched in tape echo, sitar sounds, backwards guitar solos, bongos and monotonous fuzz bass. A dynamic rollercoaster where the

landscape soon fluctuates between open and calm desert moods, and then suddenly ignites the rocket engines and leaves the atmosphere once and for all. The Bergen-based group, consisting of Øystein Braut (guitar, vocals), Njål Clementsen (bass), Anders Bjelland (keyboards) and Øyvind Hegg-Lunde (drums), are thus following up their debut album “Pick-up, Lift-up, Space, Time” from 2013 in a brilliant way.
                                            

That the phrase “the journey is the goal” may seem tired doesn’t make it less truthful. ForElectric Eye this is the fundament for their musical existence. Long musical journeys in wide landscapes where the moods and the overwhelming, absorbing and repeating themes play a key role. As a listener you have

two choices: either you’re with it, or you leave it. With «Different Sun» on the turntable, the choice is easy. Electric Eye’s own journey must be considered to be modest seen from a universal perspective, but with the members’ previous experiences from solid musical projects like The Megaphonic Thrift, The Low Frequency in Stereo, Hypertext, The Alexandria Quartet and Junip, the quartet have built for themselves ia well-constructed spaceship. «Different Sun» was mixed by Anders Bjelland in Broen Studios and mastered in Duper Studio by the honoured Jørgen Træen, so it sounds beautiful.
                                                  

After their debut album the quartet received a lot of attention, especially from abroad. The music press and the bloggers were effusive in their praise of the band, who turned up on many best-of-the-year lists

and were played a lot on radio stations in the USA, England, Argentina, Mexico, Holland, Denmark and Belgium. Electric Eye have drawn notice as a live band, too. Since 2013 they’ve toured both Europe and the USA, plus participated in music biz conferences like Eurosonic, SXSW, The Great Escape, Iceland Airwaves and the Spot Festival in Denmark. The response has been overwhelming – the biggest coming from the psychedelic music scene, who in every way have had their eyesand ears opened to the band.
                                         

It’s fully possible to hear traces of the golden psychedelic reveries of the 60s and the lyrical and scenic

progrock of the 70s in Electric Eye’s music. A dose of motoric, German sounds must be mentioned, plus Indian drone music. But «Different Sun» is first and foremost proof of Electric Eye as a band who in every way are present in the moment, where they guide the listeners on a perpetual musical journey full of surprises. Fasten your seatbelts and look for a different sun!
                                       

Brilliant album, outstanding. Starting with a Can beat always gets me anyway. But there's a lot more to it, like taking a T.Rex motive to a higher level, evolving a Barrett-harmony further on, crescendos like a slightly softer Motorpsycho, defining a new own voice in psychedelic prog. Well done!

MEMBERS

   

Bass, Synth [Synths], Vocals – Njål Clementsen
Drums, Percussion – Øyvind Hegg-Lunde
Guitar [Guitars], Sitar [Sitars], Vocals – Øystein Braut
Keyboards [Keys], Synth [Synths], Vocals – Anders Bjelland
Vocals [Sings] – Arne Håkon Tjelle (tracks: A3), Linn Frøkedal (tracks: A1, A3), Richard Myklebust (tracks: A2, A3, B6)
Written-By, Arranged By, Performer – Electric Eye

TRACKS

                                                      

01. Silent By The River - 5:05
02. All Of This Has Happened Before And Will Happen Again - 6:12
03. Mercury Rise - 5:22
04. Bless - 4:14
05. Heavy Steps On Desert Floor - 7:43
06. Never Fade Away - 3:58
07. Part One - 6:08

MP3 @ 320 Size: 93 MB
Flac  Size: 248 MB